Saradha Chit Fund: SC Notice to Vodafone, Airtel on CBI's Plea Alleging Non-Cooperation
Image Courtesy: Live Law
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on CBI's plea alleging non-cooperation on the part of telecom operators Vodafone and Airtel in not sharing the Call Detail Records (CDR) of Saradha Group directors Sudipta Sen and Debjani Mukherjee.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi required the companies to reply by April 8 even as Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi refuted the claims. Appearing for Vodafone, Rohatgi argued that "everything has already been handed over" and that the probe agency's contention is incorrect.
Further, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta advanced that there is a state of absolute "anarchy" and "lawlessness" in the state of West Bengal, in the face of the recent instance where the local police harassed the custom officials at the Kolkata Airport when the latter attempted to check the luggage of the wife of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew).
In response, Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued on behalf of the state government that the SG should abstain from feeding the media under the garb of making submissions.
Earlier, the central investigative agency had moved the apex court alleging destruction of material evidence in connection with the Saradha Chit Fund Scam on the part of the erstwhile Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar.
In the wake of the face-off between the federal probe agency and the West Bengal government on February 3, the former had prayed for the surrender of evidence and contempt action against the state police. The Court had then directed Kumar "to appear and make himself available before the CBI and to faithfully cooperate at all times" in connection with the investigations into the Chit Fund scam.
The bench had also 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 February 27, not convinced to act on the contempt petition, the Court had required the probe agency to file an affidavit furnishing substantive material to back its claims of tampering of evidence by the state police. This week, perusing the CBI's latest status report, the top court was of the view that "very, very serious" revelations have come to light upon Kumar's interrogation.
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