HC Rejects CBI Probe Pleas Against Adani, RIL

The petitions, filed by 61-year-old Silvassa resident Jitendra Maru, alleged that AGEL and its associates paid crores in bribes to secure solar power contracts across multiple states, and that RIL illegally extracted natural gas from ONGC’s Krishna–Godavari Basin fields.

In the petition, Maru claimed that RIL drilled deep-sea wells between 2004 and 2013–14 in a manner that allowed gas to migrate from adjoining ONGC blocks into its KG-D6 field, describing it as a “massive organised fraud.” The court, however, rejected the plea, noting, “Merely because the petitioner makes certain allegations in this writ petition, he cannot claim a right to seek registration of an FIR against the fourth respondent (RIL), its officers, Directors etc.”

The bench added that the petition amounted to “a clear abuse of the process of the Court.”

Emphasising that Article 226 powers are meant to serve public interest, the court said a petitioner must establish bona fides and disclose all material facts. “He must come clean to the Court and not with soiled hands… This writ petition fails on each count and has been filed with a tainted motive,” it said.

In the case against AGEL, Maru relied largely on material from a US criminal indictment and related Securities and Exchange Commission proceedings. He alleged that AGEL and the Delhi-based Azure Global paid more than Rs 2,000 crore in bribes to officials of power distribution companies in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Jammu & Kashmir to obtain solar power contracts at inflated tariffs.

The court dismissed the petition, finding no merit in the allegations and stating that the petitioner had not approached the court with “clean hands”. “This writ petition does not serve any public purpose. Rather, a petition like the present one causes serious harm and is likely to damage the reputation and business prospects of any corporate group,” the bench said.