Raja’s aide Sadiq Batcha ’commits suicide’ (suicide note found)

PTI

Chennai, 17 March 2011: The suicide note of Sadiq Batcha, who died under mysterious circumstances, was found on Wednesday in which the close aide of former telecom minister A. Raja said he was embarrassed by CBI raids at his premises in connection with the 2G spectrum scam but blamed none for his taking the extreme step, police said.

 

“In his suicide note, Batcha said he was embarrassed by the CBI raids at his premises,” a top police official said. Mr. Batcha, found hanging at his house on Wednesday and declared brought dead at a private hospital, blamed none for his suicide and he felt sorry for Mr. Raja’s plight, the official said.

 

In the note, he was also peeved at the extensive media coverage to the CBI raids when sleuths raided his premises in Chennai and native Perambalur, they said.

 

In the long letter, which started with an apology, he expressed his wish to be reborn and wanted his siblings to be happy and his wife and children to stay in Chennai for their education.

 

 

Meanwhile, the police filed an FIR for a case of suicide, following a complaint by Mr. Batcha’s wife Banu. Police said she had alleged that her deceased husband could not cope with the 2G spectrum probe.

 

Sadiq Batcha, aide of former Telecom Minister A. Raja, also accused in the 2G scam, allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday, at his residence in Chennai. His wife claimed that he committed suicide “unable to cope with the pressure” of the probe in the case.

 

The 47-year-old Batcha, who was the Managing Director of Greenhouse Promoters, a firm under the scanner of the CBI as well as the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the spectrum allocation scam, was said to have been found hanging from the roof of the bedroom of his house in Vannia Teynampet in South Chennai by his wife and his driver around 1 p.m.

 

The two rushed him to Apollo Hospital where doctors declared him “brought dead". “At about 1.20 p.m. Sadiq Batcha was brought to Apollo Hospital by his wife Bhanu. Doctors declared him brought dead to the Apollo hospital. The family says he had hanged himself,” Chennai Police Commissioner T Rajendran told reporters.

 

The body has been taken to Government Royapettah Hospital for post mortem, he said but declined to get into the issue whether it coule be a case of murder.

 

“I won’t speculate on that,” he said when asked whether it could be a case of murder. Ms. Bhanu, accompanied by a relative, drove to Teynampet police station in the evening and filed a complaint, the details of which were not released.

 

While she avoided the waiting media, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity that Ms. Bhanu said in her complaint that she and her driver had seen Batcha’s body hanging from the roof in the bedroom of their house. “He (Batcha) could not cope with the pressure of the probe,” the official said quoting from his wife’s statement.

 

Mr. Batcha was reportedly scheduled to fly to Delhi this afternoon for questioning by CBI, which said that his death would have no bearing on the probe in the 2G scam.

 

“There has been no pressure from CBI on Batcha. He was cooperating with CBI. The development is unexpected but it will not affect the investigation in the ongoing 2G spectrum scam as all the evidence has already been recorded,” the CBI spokesperson said in New Delhi.

 

Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, who has moved courts for involving him in the probe into the spectrum scam, said he was not surprised by the development.

 

“I would say that the Supreme Court has monitored the petitions we have filed which is rocking the whole capital. Therefore, it is an inevitable prospect. Some murders or suicides can take place,” he told reporters in Delhi. Noted political analyst Cho Ramaswamy said the 2G case is getting murkier.

 

“It could very well be a murder. Perhaps, the man knew too much. He was scheduled to travel to Delhi today. Why should it happen to him. I do not not believe this,” he said.

 

The CBI and Enforcement Agency had conducted searches at his official and residential premises here in December. He was called for questioning four times since then. Both CBI and ED were probing the possibility of his firms acting as a front for the former minister.

 

Both the agencies have questioned him earlier in connection with the case. Mr. Batcha, hailing from Perambalur, place of Mr. Raja’s political activity, rose from humble origins to create assets worth several hundred crores of rupees in a short span of time.

 

Incidentally, Mr. Raja’s wife M.A. Parameswari, was a director of Green House Promoters. Mr. Raja’s other relatives are also reported to be associated with the firm.

 

Mr. Batcha owned several other firms, and agencies are examining if his firms could have acted as a front for possible kickbacks in the scam, the sources said.