Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to order a CBI probe into a multi-crore timber scam unearthed by CNN-IBN, in which Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is suspected of involvement.
Azad had set up the BR Kundal Committee to probe a forest timber scam, in which two PDP Ministers, Tariq Ahmad Qarra and Qazi Mohammad Afzal, were accused of pilferage.
But a CNN-IBN Investigation hints the Committee could have been a cover up to save Azad's brothers, Ghulam Mustafa Bhat and Sajjad Bhat.
Documents in CNN-IBN's possession show Azad had in fact intervened to fix huge timber contracts for his brothers. Also several lakh cubic feet of timber worth crores, were shown as "lost" due to unexplained fires, mainly in forests contracted to the Chief Minister's brothers.
The report also suggests that the Chief Minister's brothers continued logging in militancy hit areas, against Forest Department and State Cabinet orders.
Did J&K CM shield brothers in forest scam?
The documents indicate that Azad himself overturned a report by a former state Forest Commissioner alleging timber pilferage by a cartel involving his brothers.
Asked for his comment on the report, Forest Minister Afzal said: “I know Azad’s father is a forest contractor and lot of forests in the area had caught fire.”
The report also suggests that the Chief Minister’s brothers continued logging in militancy-hit areas in violation of Forest Department and State Cabinet orders.
CNN-IBN has letters Azad's brothers wrote to the State Forest Commission demanding forest areas for logging.
CNN-IBN also has an internal Forest Department CD which shows that in a forest compartment contracted to one of Azad's brothers standing green trees were cut down in violation of Supreme Court orders.
Mustafa Bhat denied the allegations and told CNN-IBN: “We are a political family, so we are targeted by those who don't get contracts"
The state Assembly was adjourned on Monday after the Opposition stalled the House and demanded the resignations of Finance Minister Tariq Ahmad Qarra and Forest Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal.
(With Pawan Bali in Jammu and Rohit Khanna in New Delhi)
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