Justice L Nageswara Rao recuses from hearing CBI’s contempt case against West Bengal

Justice L Nageswara Rao today recused himself from hearing the contempt case filed before the Supreme Court by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Kolkata Police..The case was filed in the wake of the tussle between the CBI and the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee over the investigation into the Saradha chit fund case..The matter had been listed for hearing before the Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi with Justices L Nageswara Rao and Sanjiv Khanna today, when Justice Rao expressed his inclination to not hear the case..The reason behind the recusal was that Justice Rao had appeared for the State of West Bengal as a counsel in an earlier case..The CBI approached the Supreme Court on February 4 against the “non-cooperation” of the West Bengal government a day after the Kolkata Police detained, and subsequently released, the CBI officials who visited Kolkata to question the Commissioner of Police, Rajeev Kumar on February 3, Sunday..The CBI team had sought to question Commissioner of Kolkata Police Rajeev Kumar, who was heading the Special Investigation Team that was probing the Saradha Chit fund Scam and the Rose Valley Ponzi Scam. He was summoned for questioning by the CBI on several occasions after some documents relating to the scams went missing. Kumar allegedly ignored these summons and is now accused by the CBI of “destroying evidence against himself.”.In this backdrop, when CBI officials landed on Kumar’s doorstep to question him, the Kolkata Police restrained them from entering Kumar’s bungalow. Instead, the police detained the CBI officers at a Police Station, citing that the CBI had not obtained prior permission from the West Bengal government to question Kumar. The state claimed that prior permission needed to be sought since it had withdrawn its ‘general consent’ to the CBI to investigate any cases in the state in November 2018..Two applications were then filed by the CBI before the Supreme Court – one seeking a direction to the State of West Bengal to cooperate in the probe pursuant to the Supreme Court’s orders passed in the Saradha Chit fund case, and another seeking contempt action against the state authorities...On February 5, the Court had ordered Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear and make himself available before the CBI and co-operate with the probe into the Saradha scam. Notice was also issued to the West Bengal Chief Secretary, the DGP, and Rajeev Kumar..The Court had, however, made it clear that there should be no coercive steps including the arrest of Rajeev Kumar. Further, the Court also ordered that in order to avoid unnecessary controversy, Rajeev Kumar shall appear before CBI in Shillong, Meghalaya..During the hearing today, Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi also objected to additional affidavits filed in the case by the CBI without the leave of the Court. The Court has taken his objection on record and placed the matter for hearing on February 27.