The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed its former judge, Justice A K Patnaik to probe whether a conspiracy is afoot against the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.
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Justice Patnaik has been ‘assigned’ to unearth whether the CJI is the target of a larger conspiracy by a powerful lobby of fixers, disgruntled apex court employees and corporate figures to compromise the highest judiciary itself, according to reports.
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The inquiry would primarily focus on material and affidavits provided by lawyer Utsav Singh Bains that claimed some former staffers of the court, influential peddlers and corporate entities have ganged up against Chief Justice Gogoi to frame him in a false case.
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Justice Patnaik would test Bains’ claim that he was approached by a person called ‘Ajay’ in early April. He was offered up to Rs 1.5 crore to file a false case against the CJI. This man, the lawyer said, claimed to be a relative of the former apex court staffer who has levelled sexual harassment allegation against the CJI.
Meanwhile, a special bench led by Justice Arun Mishra ordered the chiefs of the CBI, the Intelligence Bureau and the Delhi Police to assist Justice Patnaik, who has to complete his investigation and file a report in a sealed cover before the Bench.
Incidentally, Justice Patnaik was in the news after a bench led by Chief Justice Gogoi appointed him on October 26, 2018 to supervise the 14-day CVC inquiry into allegations of graft and misconduct against former CBI Director Alok Verma.