Jammu, Aug 25: The Congress high command Wednesday said the Minister for Roads and Buildings Ghulam Muhammad Saroori, currently in Saudi Arabia for performing Umrah, should immediately step down to pave the way for a fair probe by CBI into the impersonation racket in the entrance examination of a private medical college in Jammu.
“The Minister should submit his resignation to the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, otherwise he would be sacked. He can even fax his resignation from Saudi Arabia,” highly placed Congress sources close to 10-Janpath said.
The sources said that the Minister is in the dock for not seeking the mandatory permission from the Ministry of External Affairs for proceeding abroad.
Meanwhile, the state government has finally sent the request to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the investigation of the case pertaining impersonation racket in the medical examination.
The Minister on Tuesday evening, immediately on his arrival in the union capital, was, according to source, asked by the Congress high command to submit his resignation in the wake of the controversy over alleged impersonation of his daughter in the medical entrance exam. “The minister has been asked to resign”, Congress general secretary Prithviraj Chavan was earlier quoted as saying.
The party’s demand came after the minister’s daughter was accused of using a girl to impersonate her during a medical entrance exam, in Jammu.
Reliable sources, said that Saroori left for Makkah, this morning, to perform Umrah. Though, his rivals in the party claimed that Saroori left the country only to avoid tendering of resignation, his family friends said that the plan to perform Umrah was formulated by the minister, earlier this year. A press statement, issued by the personal section of the minister, however denied the media reports. “There is no truth in the reports that the Congress High Command has asked G M Saroori, Minister PWD(R&B), J&K to put his papers in connection with alleged impersonation case”, the statement said.
Saroori, who left for Delhi yesterday, had, according to sources tried to meet Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in Delhi, which, the latter avoided. Saroori, however, got a call from Prithvi Raj Chauhan asking him to resign as directed by AICC President Sonia Gandhi.
According to sources, Saroori without submitting his papers r meeting any other Congress leader in Delhi left for Saudi Arabia.
The Minister has already denied his involvement in the impersonation case and has stressed upon the authorities to thoroughly investigate the matter and bring the facts before the public. He had also said that there are some vested interests who wanted to malign his name by involving him in this case.
The Jammu and Kashmir government, meanwhile, on Wednesday forwarded a formal request letter to CBI seeking a probe in the matter. “The letter, alongwith all the required details, were forwarded to the law department yesterday”, sources, preferring anonymity said adding, “Following the clearance from the law department the home ministry sent the request to the CBI today”.
Another high profile leader, whose name also figured in the scam resigned from the party post, on Wednesday.
Senior National Conference leader and former Minister, Ram Paul resigned as the Chairman of the Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes Cell of the National Conference, Jammu province, after name of his son figured in the much publicized impersonation in medical examination case.
A party spokesman said Ram Paul’s resignation has been accepted by the party high command. Ram Paul’s resignation came in the wake of his name finding mention in the ASCOMS entrance examination impersonation case which has been referred by the State Government to the CBI for an impartial enquiry.
It is pertinent to mention here that police had arrested at least seven persons for impersonating in place of the original candidates in entrance examination of private medical college ASCOMS in Jammu, last week. During the investigation it was learnt that out of seven two beneficiaries were kin of the minister and former minister.

HAS SAROORI LEFT WITHOUT PERMISSION?
Apart from the resignation confusion, mystery of `political permission’ for leaving the country surrounds Works Minister Ghulam Muhammad Saroori, who proceeded for Umrah, without prior permission from the state government and the government of India.
Well placed sources said that the government was looking into the matter as how the minister left for a foreign visit, in his private capacity, without a written permission from the government.
“The minister had sent a letter to the CM informing that he is proceeding for Umrah but no permission has been granted till date”, sources, preferring anonymity told Greater Kashmir. They said that the government usually requires clearance from different agencies before the permission is granted.
However, in this case the minister is learnt to have left the country without waiting for the formal permission from the government, sources claimed. The personal section of the minister, however, said the minister has spoken to the CM and sought his permission before leaving the country.

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