Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday denied the opposition charge that he had been "forced" by the Union Home Ministry to ask the CBI to probe the multi-crore North Cachar Autonomous Hill Council scam and said it was only a request which he complied with.
"There was no direction. In fact, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram did not raise the issue during our recent meeting," Gogoi told reporters here.
The chief minister said that his office had received a letter from the Home Ministry requesting him to ask the CBI to probe the matter on February 22.
"I was in New Delhi when the letter (from the Home Ministry) came here and then I asked my principal secretary to fax it to me the same day following which I immediately took the decision (CBI probe)," he said.
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Pleading ignorance of the NIA chargesheet and its report that government officials were involved in the scandal, the chief minister said he would write a letter to the Union Home Ministry asking the names of the officials.
