CBI, Ratan Tata move SC against news daily

Seek contempt of court action against The Indian Express for publishing details of Niira Radia tapes

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and industrialist Ratan Tata on Monday moved petitions in the Supreme Court, seeking contempt of court action against The Indian Express newspaper for publishing details of the Niira Radia tapes and a further probe into the role of several important public persons.

Judges G S Singhvi and V Gopala Gowda directed that the petitions be listed on Tuesday for full hearing. Senior counsel K K Venugopal represented the CBI and Harish Salve appeared for Tata.

The Tata petition against the release of the Radia tapes was pending for three years and the court is still hearing his grievance against violation of his right to privacy.

GRIEVANCE LIST

• The Tata petition against the release of the Radia tapes was pending for three years and the court is still hearing his grievance against violation of his right to privacy
• The CBI is aggrieved because it had given the transcriptions of the tapes, about 5,000 pages, to the court in a sealed cover for the eyes of the judges only

The CBI is aggrieved because it had given the transcriptions of the tapes, 5,000 pages, to the court in a sealed cover for the eyes of the judges only. Venugopal had read out only some parts of the report in the court, without disclosing the names and offences involved. Even the additional solicitor general assisting him was not told about the personal details.

However, the newspaper reported incriminatory details from the tapes.

Salve vehemently contended that the media was repeating this behaviour for the fifth time in recent times, despite the court prohibiting information given to it in confidence.

Justice Singhvi remarked: "We know that if the media gets such information, they will publish it."

Salve said the Central Vigilance Commission or some other authority should find how the leak occurred. The full argument will be made at the next hearing.