New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Monday explained to the Supreme Court how the central agency goofed up the whole exercise of conducting raids in September in a high profile case and reached a sitting Orissa High Court judge’s bungalow.
Appearing for the CBI in the apex court, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the information relating to the wrong address was placed by CBI’s New Delhi office which was taken from ‘Internet’ (Orissa High Court website).
“Even today the name of the former High Court Judge (IM Quddusi) appears in the Orissa High Court website. The gate of the sitting Orissa HC judge was locked from inside and the CBI never unlocked it and never entered the gate of the judge even for a second,” CBI told the apex court.
The central agency Monday explained to the apex court how the CBI has already apologised to the Orissa HC Chief Justice Vineet Saran in the case. According to the CBI, their team had met the Orissa Chief Justice September 21 and explained to him the whole exercise and the bona fide intention in the case.
During their meeting with the CJ, the CBI said they had shown him the webpage which wrongly indicated the address which led to the whole controversy and tendered apologies for the goof-up. During the meet, they admitted that the CBI, New Delhi, placed the information based on Internet. The CBI also allegedly explained to the CJ that raids at night were conducted to keep the ‘surprise element’.
The CBI told the apex court Monday that during the meet the CJ had said that a letter from the Registrar General of the Orissa HC would be written to the CBI Director to take actions to prevent any re-occurrence of any such incident in the future and also take line of action against the errant. The CBI said they had also met Justice CR Dash (of Orissa High Court) and apologised to him.
However, the central agency told the SC that they never entered the bungalow of Justice Dash and talked to the PCR van and the cantonment police in Cuttack to confirm the address.
How could CBI do this: SC
A two-judge bench of the SC which was hearing the case asked the CBI how can a prestigious investigative body like the CBI can do such a goof-up. “If a constable rank official had done this, we could have understood this. How can CBI have done this type of mistake,” the bench asked CBI in the court.
Bar objects to Quddusi’s Orissa angle
The Orissa High Court Bar Association Monday objected to associating the name of its former judge IM Quddusi with Orissa HC. The Bar told the apex court that the media is referring the name of Quddusi as former Orissa HC judge. “The media names him as former Orissa HC judge. He neither belonged to Orissa nor did he retire from Orissa HC; rather he retired from Chhattisgarh HC. This is maligning the image of Orissa,” the Bar told the Supreme Court.
Has Orissa HC CJ accepted your apology: SC to CBI
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) whether its apologies to the Orissa High Court Chief Justice and HC judge CR Dash in the controversial case of ‘raid-by-mistake’ had been accepted by them.
The case relating to CBI’s September ‘raid-by-mistake’ came for hearing Monday before a two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan when the CBI repeatedly told the court that the central agency has already apologised to the Orissa High Court Chief Justice and another HC judge Justice Dash for its goofed-up exercise.
It may be recalled that the CBI personnel had approached the gate of Justice Dash while conducting raids in connection with a case relating to former Chattisgarh High Court Judge Justice IM Quddusi in September 2017.
After hearing the arguments of CBI and those of Orissa High Court Bar Association, the bench asked the CBI whether the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court and Justice Dash have accepted their apologies.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, when confronted with the question of the Supreme Court, confessed that nothing in written form had been given to the CBI in response to their apologies.
The SC bench, post-hearing the case, ordered the CBI to file an affidavit on the case and mention if their apologies have been accepted by the people to whom they have apologised and then they are ready to close the case.
The CBI, meanwhile, objected to some parts of the statements made by the Orissa High Court Bar Association in their petitions before the Orissa High Court where they had sought an inquiry into the matter, including alleged trespassing by CBI.
The CBI told the apex court that their investigations have now been hampered as an FIR filed regarding the case in Orissa are deterring the CBI sleuths in conducting their probe in the case and requested the court to look into the matter.
The court, however, refrained from entertaining other submissions of the CBI and asked them to file an affidavit first in this regard, as ordered.
Manish Kumar, PNN