New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred its hearing till February 27, the hearing on the contempt plea filed by the CBI against the West Bengal state police in the Saradha Chit Fund scam, following the recusal of Justice L. Nageswara Rao, one of the judges, hearing the matter. “My brother (Justice Rao) does not wish to hear the matter. He has earlier appeared for the West Bengal government”, said Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and posted the matter for further hearing on February 27 before a bench of which Justice Rao is not a member. Justice Sanjiv Khanna was the other judge on the bench.
On February 5, the bench had issued notice to the Chief Secretary of the state of West Bengal, the DGP and the Police Commissioner on CBI’s contempt plea, requiring the officials to file their responses on or before February 18 and accordingly replies were filed.
On Wednesday, Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the state government, objected to an additional affidavit filed by CBI in the contempt proceedings. He told the court “this is very, very serious and important. The additional affidavit of the CBI has been filed without any orders of the court.” However, Attorney General K. K. Venugopal justified the filing of additional affidavit and said “It is a very serious matter. Give us an opportunity to respond.” The Bench, however, deferred the hearing till February 27.
In his response Rajeev Kumar, the then city Police Commissioner apologised for any inadvertent disobedience and said that he has always cooperated with the CBI. He said he was declared “absconder” with a view to tarnishing his reputation and impeccable service record. He regarded as suspicious why the CBI conducted raid and laid siege on his house on its Interim Director’s last day in office.
Besides, he has argued that he was just a member of the SIT constituted by the state government in the wake of the Chit Fund scam, having played no supervisory role as was claimed by the CBI on the last occasion. He said all material evidence was in custody of Investigating Officers and not with him.
