New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred hearing on the contempt plea filed by the CBI against the West Bengal state police in the Saradha Chit Fund scam till February 27. The hearing was deferred 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, 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.”
