New Delhi April 9:
The Supreme Court asked the contesting parties to refrain from politicising the issue of black money saying it was a "serious" matter which has to be dealt in the best interests of the country.
"The issue is very serious. Unnecessarily don't politicise it. We have to deal with the issue in the country's best interests," a bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said. The bench made the remarks after senior advocate Ram Jethmalani made a politically loaded statement in connection with the investigation against Pune stud owner Hasan Ali Khan relating to alleged tax evasion and money laudering.
"The conversation shows direct intervention of 10, Janpath," he said while placing before the bench a recorded conversation relating to the interogation of Ali by suspended IPS officer Ashok Deshbhratar. The senior advocate, who filed an intervention application on behalf of Deshbhratar, said he was placing the pendrive and transcript relating to the interrogation of Ali by Deshbhratar.
In the application, there was a mention of two letters on the letter heads of Congress leader Ahmed Patel addressed to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Jethmalani said the suspended IPS officer wanted to assist the court in the case. However, after he expressd his desire to approach the apex court on March 15, the Maharashtra government ordered his suspension on March 21.
At the outset, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, in compliance with the order of the court, placed the copy of the CD and transcripts of 53-year-old Khan's statements recorded by Deshbhratar and informed that statements relating to the probe were being video recorded. However, when he was making the submission, the Bench drew his attention to the affidavits filed by Jasbir Singh, who is one of the petitioners in the case, making allegations against Enforcement Directorate Chief Arun Mathur and two other officials.
Subramanium said officers are making a fairly delicate investigation and nothing should be done to undermine them and it was an attempt to "hack" the probe. "In the affidavits, serious allegations have been made. It is very important for us to respond. There is an attempt to hack the investigation. Somebody is attempting to hack the entire exercise. We have to be extra-guarded," he said adding that "names are being dropped" and the purpose is to do anything that derails the investigation.
"The probe is on the track and every possible attempt is made to hack it," the Solicitor General said. However, his submission was opposed by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan who was appearing for former supercop Julio Rebeiro and others. He said the Solicitor General was making "inappropriate statements" about the eminent perosns who have filed petitions for retrieving the black money parked by Indians in banks abroad.
"We are not hacking the investigation," he said adding "we are not coming in the way of investigation". Is it a part of the ED report that the investigation has been hacked"? he said. The Bench asked the government and the ED to respond to the allegations made in the affidavits and sought a clear stand from them on the issue of handing over the investigation of the black money to a Special Investigating Team. It also asked them to file an affidavit relating to the probe in determining the source of money stashed in foreign banks.
The Supreme Court asked the contesting parties to refrain from politicising the issue of black money saying it was a "serious" matter which has to be dealt in the best interests of the country.
"The issue is very serious. Unnecessarily don't politicise it. We have to deal with the issue in the country's best interests," a bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said. The bench made the remarks after senior advocate Ram Jethmalani made a politically loaded statement in connection with the investigation against Pune stud owner Hasan Ali Khan relating to alleged tax evasion and money laudering.
"The conversation shows direct intervention of 10, Janpath," he said while placing before the bench a recorded conversation relating to the interogation of Ali by suspended IPS officer Ashok Deshbhratar. The senior advocate, who filed an intervention application on behalf of Deshbhratar, said he was placing the pendrive and transcript relating to the interrogation of Ali by Deshbhratar.
In the application, there was a mention of two letters on the letter heads of Congress leader Ahmed Patel addressed to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Jethmalani said the suspended IPS officer wanted to assist the court in the case. However, after he expressd his desire to approach the apex court on March 15, the Maharashtra government ordered his suspension on March 21.
At the outset, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, in compliance with the order of the court, placed the copy of the CD and transcripts of 53-year-old Khan's statements recorded by Deshbhratar and informed that statements relating to the probe were being video recorded. However, when he was making the submission, the Bench drew his attention to the affidavits filed by Jasbir Singh, who is one of the petitioners in the case, making allegations against Enforcement Directorate Chief Arun Mathur and two other officials.
Subramanium said officers are making a fairly delicate investigation and nothing should be done to undermine them and it was an attempt to "hack" the probe. "In the affidavits, serious allegations have been made. It is very important for us to respond. There is an attempt to hack the investigation. Somebody is attempting to hack the entire exercise. We have to be extra-guarded," he said adding that "names are being dropped" and the purpose is to do anything that derails the investigation.
"The probe is on the track and every possible attempt is made to hack it," the Solicitor General said. However, his submission was opposed by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan who was appearing for former supercop Julio Rebeiro and others. He said the Solicitor General was making "inappropriate statements" about the eminent perosns who have filed petitions for retrieving the black money parked by Indians in banks abroad.
"We are not hacking the investigation," he said adding "we are not coming in the way of investigation". Is it a part of the ED report that the investigation has been hacked"? he said. The Bench asked the government and the ED to respond to the allegations made in the affidavits and sought a clear stand from them on the issue of handing over the investigation of the black money to a Special Investigating Team. It also asked them to file an affidavit relating to the probe in determining the source of money stashed in foreign banks.
