Dismiss ex-Orissa HC judge plea over leakage of phone transcripts: CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday requested a Delhi court to dismiss a plea by retired Orissa High Court Judge I.M. Quddusi, accused of graft in a medical college scam case.

The probe agency sought court-monitored investigation into leakage of transcripts of Quddusi's alleged telephonic conversations in the case.

The CBI told Delhi's Tis Hazari Court that apprehension of applicant is based on news reports.

Quddusi is currently seeking court-monitored investigation into leakage of transcripts of his alleged telephonic conversations in the case. He was arrested last year on the charges of graft along with other accused persons but was later granted bail by a Delhi court.

Meanwhile, Quddusi's advocate Vijay Aggarwal told the court the transcripts of the alleged conversations as well as the confidential report of a preliminary inquiry have been leaked to the media. He also requested the court to monitor the investigation of the case and to pass necessary orders regarding conducting of an inquiry into whether criminal misconduct has been committed by the CBI by leaking the documents.

Last week, Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan filed a complaint against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the medical college scam case and requested five senior-most apex court judges, including the four rebel judges, to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter.

Quddusi, B.P. Yadav, Palash Yadav, Bishwanath Agrawala and Ram Dev Saraswat were arrested on September 20, 2017 by the CBI on the charge of helping Lucknow-based Prasad Institute that was barred from admitting medical course students by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

The sixth accused in the case, Bhawana Pandey, was arrested on September 21. All the accused were later granted bail.

The institute is among 46 colleges barred by the government from admitting medical course students for two years (till 2019) because of substandard facilities and non-fulfilment of criteria.

It was alleged that the college had bribed some influential people, including Qudussi, to get a favourable order from the apex court which was hearing a case about its future as the college was running without the MCI recognition.