Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) has denied a New Indian Express report on October 13, 2022 alleging that chief minister Neiphiu Rio was interrogated by Enforcement Directorate (ED) for several hours at a military facility at Rangapahar in connection with a “non-existent High Court”.
In a statement, CMO termed as “fake” the news by one Amit Mukherjee, circulating through various media and social media platforms.
CMO also clarified that the chief minister was never called by ED in connection with any matter connected with High Court. Further the communiqué termed it as “unfortunate that such false and baseless allegations were being made without verification, primarily to cause loss and injury to the reputation of the chief minister”.
CMO said action in accordance with law was being initiated against those concerned and responsible for “reckless dissemination” of the fake news. The department concerned would clarify other aspects of the news item, the release added.
RPP not surprised: Meanwhile, Rising People’s Party (RPP) said it was not surprised at Enforcement Directorate (ED) interrogating chief minister Neiphiu Rio for six hours.
In a statement, RPP also said the interrogation would not be the last as it expected more grilling of the chief minister in the days to come.
Despite Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) denying the news and terming it fake, RPP pointed out that there was no smoke without fire. And quoting newspaper reports that the army had declined to comment, RPP asserted that this meant that something was fishy.
Secondly, the party recalled that several months back ED had interrogated five close confidantes of Rio in connection with case no. ECIR/GWZO/09/2020/488, one of whom was the personal assistant to CM. Thus, it was only natural that the chief minister himself would be interrogated, it added.
While the question in everyone’s mind was whether ED would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion or not, RPP asserted that it was amply clear that the chief minister could not escape the net cast by ED. It said the chief minister was now a prisoner of BJP, which would have intense ramifications for the State.
The party said ED was also vigorously chasing 10 NDPP MLAs, while speculation was rife that the Central agency had built up cases of corruption against them. Citing sources, RPP said these 10 MLAs might strike a bargain with BJP to join the party. Similarly, given the aggressive pursuance of the case by ED, RPP said Rio too joining BJP could not be ruled out either.
It stated that NDPP was in a precarious position and there was absolutely nothing the party could do anything about it.
Imchen joins issue: Former minister Imkong L. Imchen, who was among 21 NPF members who joined NDPP, opined that since NDPP is a registered political party, it has every right to file FIR against sources responsible for spreading the news.
Therefore, he said since NDPP has declared that it was putting all legal instruments to place to apprehend the culprit responsible under the law, who or what is stopping NDPP from filing the FIR?
He said nobody can stop NDPP from filing the FIR and issuing press statement on public domain to refute the news report may be okay but not filing FIR only heightens doubts over the NDPP rebuttal. However if NDPP has indeed filed FIR then it was meaningless to not mention it.
Imchen said the office the CM of Nagaland cannot be subjected to “doubtful integrity”. He also cited the Congress demand on the Governor to dismiss the chief minister if the latter refused to resign.
Imchen said as per his understanding and in the given circumstances, the situation was taking an extraordinary turn and so the NDPP should stand up to the occasion and deal with the matter with level headedness as the matter cannot be taken lightly.
