Former Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao won a crucial victory in his legal battle against investigators on Wednesday when a court threw out charges against him in a 1989 forgery case.

’There is no case made out against P.V. Narasimha Rao and he is therefore discharged." judge Ajit Bharihoke said in his ruling on the St. Kitts case at the June 4 hearing. The judge also (jischarged Rao's co-ac-cused, former Union Minister K.K. Tewary. but ordered framing of charges against controversial religious guru Chan-draswamy and his aide Kailashnath Aggarwal in the case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had accused the four of hatching a conspiracy to forge documents to sully the reputation of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh ahead of the 1989 general election.

"All I can say is that 1 am happy." Rao told reporters as he came out of the packed courtroom. The judge said Chan-draswamy and Aggarwal would be charged with forging documents with an Intention to malign the reputation (of V.P. Singh).

Rao's aides at the hearing said they expected the ruling to also give a boost to his political fortunes. The former Prime Minister, whose Congress Party government was dislodged in the 1996 genera) election, resigned from the post of party

president following an adverse court ruling in a cheating case.

Soon after, Rao was forced out of his last important position. that of leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, following pressure from his peers who have now sidelined

Narasimha Rao him in the party’s affairs. Rao was mobbed by journalists as he came out of the posh Vigyan Bhawan conference center, where a makeshift courtroom was set up last year for his trial after police reported a security threat to him in busy city courts. Known for not talking to the press. Rao created a ripple as he headed for the column of television cameras lined up opposite the entrance to the court -

Rao. then External Affairs Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi

Cabinet, had been accused of conspiring to show that Ajeya Singh, son of V.P. Singh had deposited $21 million in a secret account in the First Trust Corporation Limited (FTCL) In . the Caribbean island of St. | Kitts. The money was purport- | edly part of amounts got by V.P. i Singh in kickbacks in India.

In a chargesheet filed in October 1996 by the CBI. the agency had alleged that Rao had instructed consulate officials in New York to attest the signatures of George Maclean. Managing Director of FTCL, in an attempt to show by forgery that Ajeya Singh's account existed.

Rao's counsel R.K. Anand had given the case a dramatic twist recently when he told the judge that his client had acted in the case on the instructions of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The statement drew rebuke from the partv’s president Sitaram Kesri, who said the move to shift blame onto Gandhi was an "uncivilized'' attempt to "denigrate a dead

Rao now has two cases pending against him. In a 1983 cheating case, he is accused of conspiring with Chan-draswamy and Aggarwal to swindle the late nonresident Indian businessman Lakhubhai Pathak out of $100,000. In another case, he is accused of bribing opposition lawmakers to save his government In a 1993 Parliament no-trust vote.

— India Abroad News Service