Maharshtra Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil said on Wednesday that any legal action would be taken
only after the verification of the tape that alleges Govinda's links with the underworld don Dawood
Ibrahim.
"Investigation is going on and only after investigation, I will be able to say anything on this issue,"
Patil said.
"This needs an investigation as the tape which came earlier was alleged of having the voices of actor
Salman Khan and actress Aishwarya Rai. However, after investigation in the laboratory of Central
Government, it was revealed that it was not their voices. So, even this tape requires a full fledged
investigation," he added.
Congress had earlier termed the matter as "over-sensationalism" as the footage was 15 years old
and the actor had joined the party only two years ago.
Earlier last week, a private channel had run video clippings of the tape where Govinda, then an
upcoming actor, during the inauguration of a shop was seen meeting underworld don Dawood Ibrahim
and his other associates.
However, Govinda denied having links with Ibrahim, saying the video clip featuring him and Ibrahim
was a malicious attempt to malign his reputation.
The actor, who got elected to Parliament, from the north Mumbai constituency last year, had also
mentioned that he had already been cleared of any involvement with Ibrahim by the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI).
India has been accusing Ibrahim, the son of a police constable, of masterminding a 1993 day-long
wave of bombings in Mumbai that killed 260 people and injured 1,000.
Also, the U.S. Treasury had in 2003 put Ibrahim on its global terrorist list linking him to al Qaeda, in
a move seen as backing India's claim that he was hiding in Pakistan, listed his address as Karachi
and he was holding a Pakistani passport.
Thursday, October 27, 2005 15:31 IST