The Home Ministry today said the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, did not have any role in the withdrawal of three FIRs against a Delhi-based hotelier, who was accused of cheating and forgery and is said to be a former client of the Minister.

The Home Secretary, Mr R.K. Singh, also claimed that the draft of a letter sent by the Home Ministry to the Delhi government for withdrawal of the FIRs had not been shown to the Home Minister or Home Secretary or the Joint Secretary concerned and it did not reflect the proper deliberations of the Home Ministry. He suggested it could be a fault of drafting.

“The draft was not shown to the Home Minister. The file was not shown to the Home Secretary either. Even the concerned Joint secretary also said he had not seen the draft. The Home Minister had no role in withdrawal of the case,” he told reporters here.

Mr Singh’s remarks came against the backdrop of a raging controversy over the withdrawal of three FIRs against Mr S.P. Gupta, who runs Sunair Hotels Pvt Ltd.

The three FIRs relate to Mr Gupta allegedly misusing the names of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and defrauding a firm — VLS Finance — to the tune of several crores of rupees.

Reports also suggested there was a conflict of interest as Mr Gupta was a client of Chidambaram who fought his cases in the court as a lawyer.

However, the Ministry in a statement, said: “The Home Minister is unable to recall at this distance of time whether he appeared in a case concerning M/s Sunair Hotels Pvt Ltd at any time between 1999 and 2003”.

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