SC holds Rao and CBI legal advisor guilty of contempt, imposes fine of Rs 1 lakh on both

The Supreme Court Tuesday convicted and punished then acting CBI Director M Nageswara Rao and agency's legal advisor S Bhasuram by imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh each and sentenced them to sit in the courtroom till the rising of the court for committing contempt of its orders.

The apex court held them guilty of its contempt for wilfully disobeying its order by transferring CBI Joint Director A K Sharma, who was probing the Bihar shelter home sexual assault cases, as additional director general of CRPF on January 17.

"In our considered view, it is a case where contempt has been committed by both the then acting CBI Director, M N Rao, and the director prosecution (of the agency)" a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said.

Holding them guilty of contempt of court, the bench, comprising justices L N Rao and Sanjiv Khanna, said, "We could not have done anything else."