No criminality in Nira Radia tapes: CBI tells SC

New Delhi, Sep 21: The Central Bureau of Investigation has given a clean chit to corporate lobbyist Nira Radia in a case relating the 8,000 odd taped conversations.

The CBI cited 14 preliminary enquiries' to probe the contents of these taped conversations by the Income Tax department. The enquiries' were closed as no case was made of it.

The development comes as the Supreme Court is hearing the Nira Radia vs Ratan Tata case. Ratan Tata has sought his right to privacy after telephonic conversations between Radia and other individuals including the Tata Group chief were published by media outlets.

The CBI told the court that there is no criminality found into the taped conversations. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the CBI appraised the Bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud about a sealed cover submitted by the agency in 2015.

"No criminality has been found during the investigation. A sealed cover report has been submitted to the court and the outcome of the investigation has also been forwarded to the departments concerned," the CBI told a Bench which also included Justices PS Narasimha and Hima Kohli.

The CBI is likely to file the latest status report before the court takes up the mattering October. The report has been submitted by the CBI in connection with a petition filed by Ratan Tata.

In October 2013 Ratan Tata had told the Supreme Court that the tapped telephonic conversations between Radia and top politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen, including himself, were leaked to the media because of corporate rivalry.

The conversations were recorded as part of surveillance of Radia's phone on a complaint to the Finance Minister on November 16, 2007 alleging that within a span of nine years she had built up a business empire worth Rs. 300 crore.

The government had recorded 180 days of Radia's conversations - first from August 20, 2008 for 60 days and then from October 19 for another 60 days. Later, on May 11, 2009, her phone was again put on surveillance for another 60 days following a fresh order given on May 8.