Transfer Sunil Mittal's plea to Singhvi bench, urges CBI

The Chief Justice stated CBI request will be considered by his bench on Thursday

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday urged a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir to transfer the plea of Bharti Telecom chief Sunil Mittal to another bench. Kabir said the bench would consider CBI’s request on Thursday.

In a separate development, when a three-member bench took up Mittal’s petition against a summons issued by the lower court trying the 2G scam, one of the three judges, Vikramjit Sen, recused himself for personal reasons. The trial court would take up the matter next Monday.

The Supreme Court has asked Mittal to appear in the court tomorrow and offer a personal bond for appearance before it.

On Monday, CBI counsel K K Venugopal said as the main 2G spectrum judgment was delivered by a bench presided by G S Singhvi and that bench was still monitoring the case, it would be appropriate for the same bench to hear Mittal’s petition as well.

In its March 18 order, the trial court had summoned Mittal, with other telecom chiefs. Mittal and Essar promoter Ravi Ruia had appealed against that order. According to Mittal, he was not named in the first information report or the CBI chargesheet. Therefore, summoning him to the trial court was uncalled for. CBI, however, says evidence shows he was involved in the scam. The trial court could examine the evidence and summon Mittal at its discretion, it adds.

Meanwhile, Telecom Watchdog, a public interest organisation, has filed a detailed affidavit purportedly showing Mittal’s role in the scam. It also detailed the differences within CBI over filing a charge sheet against Mittal and how his name was dropped.