New Delhi, June 28 (PTI): A confidential memo signed by a senior officer of the Cabinet Secretariat, containing “very sensitive materials”, has prompted the Supreme Court to give a free hand to the Centre to look into the “serious” allegations against ED’s Joint Director Rajeshwar Singh, who is probing the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
A vacation bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed that the memo, placed before it by the Centre in a sealed cover yesterday, has “given rise to at least a conclusion that the allegations are serious in nature”.
The Centre, in its affidavit, told the court that certain allegations were made against him on earlier occasions which had resulted in “discreet enquiry”, but the matter was later closed.
The bench also said that since a charge sheet has already been filed in the Aircel-Maxis case, “it will be the call of the government authorities” as to whether Singh has any further role to play in the matter or in the probe and trial.
The court had on March 12 set a deadline of six months for the CBI and the ED to complete the investigation into the alleged irregularities in FIPB approval given in the Aircel-Maxis deal case in which former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti have been questioned by the probe agencies.
The bench disposed of the petition filed by one Rajneesh Kapur, who was seeking probe against Singh for allegedly amassing assets which are disproportionate to his known source of income by “foul means”.
While Singh had also filed a contempt plea alleging that attempts were being made to thwart the investigation in the Aircel-Maxis case, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had also moved the top court seeking to impead himself as a party in the petition filed by Kapur.
Yesterday, after the top court’s order, Swamy had held a press conference and made public the document which he claimed was placed in a sealed cover before the court by the Centre.
On his part, Singh has also made a scathing attack on the Revenue Secretary asking him if he has developed animosity against him by “siding with scamsters and their affiliates”.
