NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday denied that the files related to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was destroyed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Making a suo-moto statement in the Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that such historical documents were in the safe custody of the National Archives. Singh’s clarification came two days after the CPM raised the issue in the Upper House, alleging that the MHA destroyed the files under Modi’s direction.
CPM’s P Rajeev had alleged that such an attempt was intended at destroying records about the alleged involvement of some Hindu elements in the assassination. Clarifying on the contentious issue, the Home Minister told the RS that the PM, during his interaction with all the Secretaries on June 4, had asked to improve the work culture, including hygiene and cleanliness of the work space and the matter was followed up by the Cabinet Secretary, who had written a letter asking all the government departments to weed out files and papers in accordance with the rules of record-keeping.
“In accordance with the instructions mentioned above, the files lying in the different sections of the MHA were reviewed and a total of 11,100 files were destroyed, during the period of June 5 to July 8, 2014,” Singh said.
“None of the 11,100 files so destroyed, relate to Gandhi’s assassination, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri or Lord Mountbatten as alleged by the member. 52 files and 67 sets of exhibits containing 11,186 pages relating to Gandhi’s assassination are in the safe custody of the National Archives,” he added.