In a development that could spark a row following the Supreme Court’s refusal to entertain a plea by Prashant Bhushan in the alleged Sahara-Birla payoffs, the senior lawyer has tweeted a photograph of top Supreme Court judge Justice Arun Mishra along with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is alleged to be one of the beneficiaries in the case.
This comes after a panel of SC judges headed by Mishra dismissed a petition filed by Bhushan’s NGO 'Common Cause' seeking a probe into the I-T raids on Sahara and Birla in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name is also embroiled.
A fortnight ago, the bench also comprising Justice Amitava Roy had found that there was too little evidence to order a probe into the matter.
The NGO’s plea had alleged that during the raids conducted by the CBI at the offices of Sahara and Birla in connection with the Coal scam probe, documents were recovered showing bribery of high ranking officials and top politicians including then Gujarat CM Modi.
“J Mishra in Sahara payoff case said persons holding High posts can't be inv on such docs,seen days before Jt with such person who got 10Crs! (sic)” Bhushan’s caption for the image he shared on twitter reads.
The high-voltage hearing was conducted by a new bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy which said ‘courts have to be on guard’ while dealing with matters demanding probe against high functionaries as the case in hand was devoid of any ‘cogent’ material or ‘independent evidence corroborating materials’ to order investigation.
The new bench was constituted as Bhushan had sought recusal of the then Chief Justice of India-designate, Justice JS Khehar, on the ground that his file for elevation for CJI was pending with the executive headed by the Prime Minister.
Dissatisfied with the loose sheets, which were claimed to be part of the diary entries of the Sahara Group and Aditya Birla Group, containing entries like ‘Gujarat CM’ and other politicians, the bench had said that materials placed on record by the NGO were not maintained by the two business houses in the regular course of business.
Another bench of the court had earlier termed the loose sheets and other evidence as ‘zero material’ to order an investigation.
The bench had also referred to the order passed by the Income Tax Settlement Commission in the Sahara group matter and said that the commission has also found prima facie that materials recovered from the group were not genuine and fabricated.
