Coal scam: Court drops the issue of attempt to influence it

A special judge hearing a coal scam case involving Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal today decided not to pursue further the issue of attempts of one of the accused to try and "influence" the court.
Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar clarified that the "message" that no such attempt should be made in future has already been conveyed to "one and all" and so he does not want to get any further on the matter.
The issue cropped up at the outset of the hearing today when Jindal moved an application seeking court's permission to travel abroad from June 10 to June 29.

In his order, the judge recorded that senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Jindal, submitted that on the last date of hearing when the court observed that there should not be any attempt to "over reach" the court or influence it, then an impression went around as if he (Hariharan) was in any manner involved in the said activity.
However, at the beginning of the hearing today, it was clarified to Hariharan that when the court addresses the issue which concerns the client, the message has to be conveyed through the advocate unless specifically warranted, the court avoids interacting with the client.

"It was in that concern that the message was sought to be conveyed to the accused persons through their advocates and it happened to be that N Hariharan, being the senior most advocate, was leading the battery of lawyers and he responded to the court on behalf of all the lawyers present," the court said.