CHAITANYA MARPAKWAR Mumbai

Native of a village called Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, Kripashankar Singhs has been a meteoric rise and literally a rags- to- riches story.

Known in political circles as 'Kripa', Singh began as a humble class IV employee with Roche pharmaceuticals after migrating to Mumbai from Jaunpur. It is said that he stayed in a 200 sq.

ft room in suburban Mumbai before joining the Congress and becoming the partys north- Indian face in the city.

According to reports, Kripa migrated to Mumbai on December 3, 1971, and also sold 'potatoes'to make a living before joining Roche. He was just another party worker till 1994 when he was nominated to the legislative council. Elected to the legislative assembly soon after, Singh was made minister of state for home in the Congress- NCP government in 1999.

Ousted from the ministry, Kripa, a sitting legislator from Kalina, took over as the chief of the Mumbai Congress in August 2008.

Though his political journey was without hiccups, it was marred by allegations of corruption and financial fraud.

RTI activist Sanjay Tiwari, who filed a Public Interest litigation against him last year, has alleged that Singh had amassed crores of rupees and assets disproportionate to his known

Singh with Madhu Koda, a former chief minister of Jharkhand, who is in jail on charges of money laundering. Though controversies have dotted his political career Kripa remained in the good books of the party high command. When this PIL was admitted last year, there was a clamor for his removal against all odds Kripa managed to retain his chair.

" He is known for his high- end networking skills. He is in the good books of Congress ministers in Delhi and in the party that alone matters.

Despite being in thick of controversies he managed to be in some post or the other. Its his networking skills that have seen him through,'said a Congress functionary. Though Singh is largely blamed for the Congresss dismal performance in the BMC polls, it was in his tenure as MRCC chief that the Congress bagged 5 out of the 6 Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 general elections.

" The adage goes that those who can get funds don't get votes but Kripa was good at both. Besides, until recently, when Sanjay Nirupam switched over to the Congress from the Shiv Sena, Singh was the partys only visible north Indian face," added the functionary.

Last year, he was also linked to the 2G spectrum scam when there were reports that the controversial city- based realtor, D B Realty, owned by Shahid Balwa, deposited Rs 4.5 crore in the account of his son Narendra Mohan.

Singh was also linked to the Rs. 4000 crore Madhu Koda scam: Kripas family allegedly deposited Rs 65 crore into Kodas account, despite having no known sources of income.

Kodas diary, incidentally, mentioned a " Kripashankar a/ c" with several entries against it. Kripa, however, denied having any links with Koda and the scam. Apart from Kripa, his family, including son Narendra Mohan alias Sanjay Singh and daughter Sunita, daughter- in- law Ankita ( daughter of former Jharkhand minister Kamlesh Singh) and wife Maltidevi have been under the scanner. Apart from his more than a dozen alleged immovable properties, which include plush flats in Mumbai and acres of land in Maharashtra and UP, the petitioner has also asked the court to look into his several top of the line cars.

From the Anti- Corruption Bureau to the Enforcement Directorate to the Income Tax department, all have been on Kripas trail for over a year now and Wednesdays order by the court is only one of his worries.

Though he is facing the music now, leaders from the Kripa camp argue that he would soon make a come back, once the dust has settled down. " The court verdict just after the BMC poll debacle has added to his troubles. But in due course he will stage a come back," a Kripa supporter said.

However, his rivals are confident that the court has finally nailed him.

" The High Court has come out against him and the investigating agencies will be breathing down his neck. Everything can't be managed every time," said a Congress activist from a rival camp.