New Delhi:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court today that “no case was discovered” even after 14 investigations into public relations professional Niira Radia’s taped conversations with politicians, industrialists and government officials, among others.
The CBI report was submitted in response to a petition from industrialist Ratan Tata seeking to investigate how the phone calls — originally intercepted by the government in 2008-09 on suspicion of tax evasion — were leaked in the first place. He protested the violation of his privacy and filed the petition in 2011. It was last heard in 2014 before being listed this year.
But the NGO Center for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which sees a bigger problem in Niira Radia’s lobbying activities, has demanded that all recordings be made public and investigated.
When Mr Tata’s petition came up today, CPIL lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan raised another issue, so the case was skipped.
It was the Supreme Court in October 2013 that ordered the CBI to investigate 14 issues identified by the agency after examining transcripts of the more than 5,800 conversations. That is why the CBI has registered 14 Preliminary Inquiries (PEs), but today informed the court that “no crime has been detected”.
Ratan Tata had asked the court in 2012 for a copy of the government’s report explaining how the tires had been leaked. The audio and transcripts were distributed by the media in 2010.
He has argued that releasing the tapes is an invasion of his right to privacy.
In a ruling that may affect this, the Supreme Court said in August 2017 that privacy is a constitutional right. The verdict was also a major blow to the BJP government, which had argued that the Constitution does not guarantee individual privacy as an inalienable fundamental right.