Ex-CJI received letter on A Raja case: SC judge

NEW DELHI: Contradicting the stand of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan that he was not aware that it was former Union telecom minister A Raja, who had tried to influence a Madras High Court judge in a criminal case, Supreme Court judge HL Gokhale on Tuesday said that he had forwarded the letter from Madras High Court judge Justice R Raghupathy to the Chief Justice of India.

In a statement issued today Justice Gokhale said he sent the letter to the CJI when he was the Chief Justice of Madras High Court and the name of Raja was specifically mentioned in the second paragraph of Justice Raghupathy's letter, according to a PTI report.

The new revelation from the Supreme Court has put the ex-CJI in an embarrassing situation.

Justice Balakrishnan had earlier said that he received a brief note from the then Madras High Court chief justice Gokhale on Justice R. Raghupathy's contention that a union minister tried to influence him, and got no direct letter from the complainant.

He said that the one-page note of then chief justice Gokhale did not mention any name of the union minister who was allegedly trying to influence Justice Raghupathy.

The former CJI made this statement after the Madras High Court ordered the suspension of the Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry Bar Council chairman on charges of trying to influence a judge in a case linked to former Telecommunications Minister A. Raja, who has denied any wrongdoing.

“The former CJI has stated in his press conference that in my letter I did not mention the name of any Union Minister having talked to Justice Raghupathy over phone to influence him. With respect to this statement I may point out that Justice Raghupathy's letter was already with him and in the second paragraph thereof Justice Raghupathy had specifically mentioned the name of Raja,” the press statement from Justice Gokhale said.

Last year, Justice Raghupathy declared in court that a central minister had tried to influence him to grant bail to two men, being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Though the name of the minister was not disclosed at that time, there were rumours that it was Raja only who allegedly tried to influence the court.