SC's no to petition on pay-offs to VIPs

The petitioner NGO Common Cause was told that there has to be something prima facie to order an investigation

New Delhi, Nov 25: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain, for now, a plea seeking a SIT probe into allegations of pay-offs to influential public functionaries including then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying the material placed before it was "zero".

Telling the petitioner NGO Common Cause that there has to be something prima facie to order an investigation, the bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice Arun Mishra told senior counsel Shanti Bhushan that the material being relied by him was "zero".

"This is zero. Noting. It is an insinuation," the bench observed as it adjourned the hearing till December 14 after asking Bhushan to come back with "with better material".

As the bench asked Bhushan either to come back with better material or withdraw the petition, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani said he would return with conclusive material.

IANS