SC dismisses petition for investigation in Law min case

New Delhi, Oct 29 (UNI) The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition seeking an investigation in connection with a tape-recorded conversation containing incriminating contents between Union Law Minister H R Bharadwaj and one Rajender Jain.

Senior Counsel Shanti Bhushan read out the contents of the alleged conversation which revealed that Mr Bharadwaj was interested in making Arjun Singh the prime minister of the country.

Mr Bhushan also told the Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran that Mr Bharadwaj had, in the alleged conversation, said he has appointed judges and, therefore, they do whatever he wants them to do.

Mr Bhushan also told the Bench that if the contents of the tape are true, then it was the duty of this court to order an investigation to find out the truth.

According to Mr Bhushan, during the alleged conversation, Mr Bhardwaj had told Mr Jain, who was earlier a PSA to godman Chandraswami to contact Mr R N Mittal, the ex-convenor of AICC legal cell.

The long and short of the alleged conversation is that H R Bharadwaj is involved in an alleged plot to get Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her PA V George summoned by Justice Jain Commission clearing the way for HRD Minister Arjun Singh to take over as Prime Minister. Mr Jain had been assured of a Lok Sabha ticket in case Arjun Singh becomes the Prime Minister.

According to Mr Bhushan, the audio tape of the conversation has been placed before Justice Milap Chand Jain Commission, holding a judicial enquiry against Chandraswamy and others to ascertain their role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv gandhi.

The apex court, however, told the petitioner to approach the police instead of coming to this court. Mr Shanti Bhushan, however, responded that a police officer cannot do anything in such matters.

The court, however, refused to entertain the petition.

Mr Shanti Bhushan, however, said he will go to the police and if nothing is done than he will come back to this court again.

Justice Jain Commission in its report submitted to the government had stated that some broader conspiracy was there in the assassination Rajiv Gandhi which needs to be looked into. The government had formed Special Investigating Team (SIT) comprising of officials from RAW, Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency and CBI.

Mr Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner Ramesh Dalal, had prayed to the apex court to summon the tape of the conversion from SIT and send it for expert opinion from forensic experts from forensic lab and if found true and correct, then appropriate action must be initiated against Mr Bhardwaj.

Rajender Jain was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

UNI