New Delhi: Among those named in a Supreme Court affidavit, alleging a larger conspiracy against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, are two former apex court employees who were sacked by the CJI in February.
The affidavit, filed by Chandigarh-based advocate Utsav Singh Bains, has alleged that “fixers” are at work behind the sexual harassment charges that a former SC staffer has brought against CJI Gogoi.
It particularly names Tapan Chakraborty and Manav Sharma, the two SC employees who were sacked after it was found that they had allegedly deliberately mixed up posting an order through which the Supreme Court had directed Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani to personally appear in a contempt of court case.
The two were then charged with cheating and forgery and have since been arrested. They are due to appear before the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate at the Patiala House Courts Monday.
ThePrint revisits the case that is part of the sensational claims made in the Bains affidavit as the Supreme Court navigates one of its worst crises.
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The case of the ‘mixed-up order
CJI Gogoi had dismissed Sharma, a court master, and Chakraborty, an assistant registrar, in February after they uploaded an order on the SC website dated 7 January that said Ambani’s presence in the case had been dispensed with, instead of stating that it had not been dispensed with.
Justice R.F. Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran had rejected Ambani’s plea for exemption from personal appearance in the contempt of court case stemming from RCom’s failure to pay Rs 550 crore due to the Swedish telecom major Ericsson. Ambani had given a personal guarantee that he would pay the amount.
After Dushyant Dave, the lead counsel representing Ericsson, pointed out the discrepancy on the apex court’s official website, a revised order was uploaded stating that Ambani’s appearance was not dispensed with. The order was corrected online three days later.
Subsequently, Justice Nariman, in open court, announced that he had instituted an inquiry into the episode. The inquiry revealed that the officials had allegedly taken down the order in shorthand and later transcribed it and hence the mix-up was “not accidental” but “deliberate”.
Cheating and forgery
Sharma and Chakraborty were then charged with cheating and forgery.
An FIR was lodged against them on 1 March, on a complaint filed by the SC registrar under sections 420, 466, 467, 468, 218, 219, 471 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A five-member team carried out an exhaustive probe for over a month. According to sources in the court, Chakraborty had absconded from his government accommodation after which the police tracked him through his mobile phone.
The two were arrested on 8 April.
They were remanded to police custody for eight days in order to investigate if there was a “larger conspiracy” behind this as well.
They are now in judicial custody and will appear before the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate at Patiala House Courts Monday.
Both accused had applied for bail, which was rejected by a trial court on 18 April due to “serious nature” of the alleged offence.
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