Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna today (Dec 3, 2003) said the State was ready to entrust the stamp paper scam to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe if the Supreme Court directed it, but reaffirmed his earlier stand that Government would not entrust the investigation to the Central agency on its "own".

The Government would hand over the investigations to CBI soon after hearing the Supreme Court directive, where a public interest litigation (PIL) is pending on the issue, he said after inaugurating a newly constructed building of the Krishik Sarvodaya Foundation in Bangalore.

Defending the Government's decision of not referring the multi-crore scandal to CBI, he said it had no faith in the investigating agency, as it turned down its request for investigating the dalit carnage in Kambalapally in Kolar district and the gunning down of Karwar MLA, Vasanth Asnotikar on earlier occasions citing "paucity of time".

It was Karnataka police, which arrested the culprits involved in the Asnotikar murder, he said.

"We are not scared of CBI inquiry. Ours is a transparent Government. Some people are trying to politicise the issue and hence pressing for CBI probe," Krishna said.

Krishna said he was unable to understand why those who have been pointing an accusing finger at Karnataka for expressing reservation to hand over the case to CBI have not recognised the truth that it was the State police who unearthed the racket and arrested alleged kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi.

Karnataka was the first State to ban use of stamp papers soon after the racket was detected, the Chief Minister added.

PTI