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New Delhi: In a significant observation \u2013 which could have a big impact on future hearings in the alleged Delhi liquor policy case \u2013 the Supreme Court has questioned the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation\u2019s \u201cfairness\u201d as they investigate opposition politicians and others in this matter.<\/p>\n
Arguing against Ms Kavitha, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju had referred to \u201cindependent evidence\u201d by former accused Bucchi Babu and Raghav Magunta Reddy, who transformed into government witnesses (and received pardons) in April last year and March this year, respectively.<\/p>\n
However, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ms Kavitha, pointed out many of the same statements, by the same individuals, had been cited as \u201cevidence\u201d in related cases, particularly that involving Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in March, days after Ms Kavitha.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou say Kejriwal is kingpin\u2026 say (ex-Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish) Sisodia is kingpin\u2026 then say I (K Kavitha) am kingpin! There is no evidence apart from approvers\u2019 tainted statements!\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point the court stepped in, observing approvers\u2019 statements needed to be backed up by direct evidence. \u201cWhat is the material to show she was involved in the crime?\u201d Justice Gavai asked Mr Raju.<\/p>\n
The top court\u2019s observation is being seen as critical in the context of the liquor policy case, much of which, it appears, depends on statements by former accused-turned-approvers.<\/p>\n
Mention of approvers\u2019 statements featured heavily in bail pleas filed by Mr Kejriwal and Mr Sisodia before the Supreme Court. Mr Sisodia was granted bail by the top court earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The court then had noted that he had spent nearly 18 months in jail and there was no prospect of a trial anytime soon. To keep him in prison, the court said, would be a \u201ctravesty of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Kejriwal, who has also contested charges against him by noting the material is based on approvers\u2019 statements, remains in jail. He was given bail in the ED case but not yet in the CBI case.<\/p>\n
Formatting Phone Not \u201cCriminal\u201d
Moving on, the court also dismissed the prosecution\u2019s claim that Ms Kavitha had deleted incriminating content from mobile phones by formatting them.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhones are a private thing\u2026 people delete messages (all the time). I have a habit of deleting group messages\u2026 these school and college groups post many messages. (This is) normal human conduct\u2026 anyone in this room will do the same thing,\u201d Justice Viswanathan told the prosecution.<\/p>\n
Merely formatting a phone could not, the court argued, \u201clead to any inference of criminality\u201d. \u201cYou have independent data to show there is any incriminating evidence? Otherwise this (material presented) only shows the mobile phone was formatted,\u201d Justice Viswanathan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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[ad_1] \u00a0 New Delhi: In a significant observation \u2013 which could have a big impact on future hearings in the alleged Delhi liquor policy case \u2013 the Supreme Court has questioned the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation\u2019s \u201cfairness\u201d as they investigate opposition politicians and others in this matter. Arguing against Ms Kavitha, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nation"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Supreme-Court-Questions-Fairness-Of-CBI-ED-Investigation-In-Liquor-Policy-Case-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42689,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42687\/revisions\/42689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}