On Wednesday, the Supreme Court instructed the CBI to provide a progress report on the probe into corporate lobbyist Niira Radia’s intercepted talks. A three-judge panel led by Justice D Y Chandrachud was hearing a petition filed by entrepreneur Ratan Tata seeking privacy protection in view of the emergence of the Radia tapes.
“We will have it after the vacations as there is a Constitution Bench next week. Meanwhile, the CBI may file an updated status report,” the three-judge bench that also included Justices Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha stated on September 21. The matter is posted for the next hearing on October 12.
This is after the Central Bureau of Probe (CBI) informed the Supreme Court that no wrongdoing was discovered as a result of an investigation into the intercepted discussions of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with politicians, business leaders, media figures, and others.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the CBI, also told the SC bench that a plea filed by industrialist Ratan Tata seeking protection of his right to privacy in light of the release of the Radia tapes may be dismissed in light of the Supreme Court’s right to privacy ruling.
“I must inform you that the CBI was directed by your lordship to investigate all these conversations. Fourteen preliminary inquiries were registered and the report was placed before your lordships in a sealed cover. No criminality was found in those. Also, now there are phone-tapping guidelines in place”, Bhati was quoted.
The petitioner’s attorney meanwhile informed the Supreme Court that another petition had been filed by the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which had requested that these transcripts be made public in the greater public interest. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the CPIL, stated that Radia was a corporate lobbyist for two of the most prominent businesses and that there were attempts to influence public figures, among other things, which were uncovered.
Earlier in 2013, the Supreme Court had ordered a CBI investigation into six problems raised by the analysis of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia’s taped conversations. “Radia’s conversations reveal deep-rooted malice by private enterprises in connivance with government officials for extraneous purposes,” the top court had said.
The Supreme Court was reviewing Tata’s plea for action against individuals involved in the tape leak, arguing that the leakage violated his fundamental right to life, which includes the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution. He said that as a business lobbyist, Radia’s phone was wiretapped to investigate alleged tax evasion and that the tapes could not be used for any other reason.
The discussions were recorded as part of the monitoring of Radia’s phone following a report to the Finance Minister on November 16, 2007, saying that she had developed a business empire worth Rs 300 crore in nine years. The government had recorded 180 days of Radia’s chats, beginning on August 20, 2008, and ending on October 19, 2008. Following a new order, her phone was placed under surveillance for another 60 days on May 11, 2009.