SC summons ex-interim CBI boss for contempt; CJI says ‘God help you’
The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on Central Bureau of Investigation for transferring its former Joint Director A K Sharma, who was probing Bihar’s shelter home cases, out of the agency in violation of the court’s order and directed its then interim chief M Nageswara Rao to personally appear before it on February 12.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took serious note of violation of two earlier orders of the apex court and issued contempt notice to Rao for transferring Sharma to the Central Reserve Police Force on January 17 without taking prior permission from the court.
The bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, directed CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla to give the names of officers who were part of the process in transferring Sharma out of the probe agency.
The SC said Rao has prima facie committed contempt of court by transferring Sharma without taking court’s consent.
“We are going to take it very very seriously. You have played with order of Supreme Court of India. God help you. Never play with SCs order,” Justice Gogoi said after CBI counsel informed that two officials including Rao were involved in transferring Sharma.
The top court referred to its earlier orders in which it had asked CBI not to remove Sharma from the team probing Bihar shelter home cases.
Besides Rao, the bench also sought appearance of all other CBI officers who were involved in the transfer process of Sharma on February 12.
It also directed for presence of S Bhasu Ram, in-charge Director of Prosecution CBI, for violating its order.
Several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur and the issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
With ANI inputs
