New Delhi: Former Orissa High Court judge, IM Quddusi, moved a Delhi Court on Wednesday seeking a probe into the leak of alleged telephone transcripts recording a conversation between him and an accused in the medical college bribery scam case.
Quddusi, who is currently out in bail, asked through a petition how transcripts which were a part of the preliminary inquiry report of the Central Bureau of Investigation were published by media organisations, stating that either the transcripts were stolen or leaked by CBI.
The plea asked for a court monitored investigation to check the circumstances behind the leak.
The application, filed on Quddusi's behalf by advocate Vijay Aggarwal, said this gave rise to "grave suspicion and apprehension of interference of third parties into the investigation of the present matter".
"Monitoring of the investigation is essential to find out as to whether the alleged conversations and preliminary inquiry report has been leaked by someone within the CBI or they have been stolen,” it said.
“This is essential so as to ensure that it does not become a ‘trial by media’ and to ensure that administration of justice is not compromised by interference by third parties in the investigation of the matter," it added.
Quddusi has claimed that a preliminary inquiry report is a confidential document and in no way could it be leaked.
"It is submitted that a preliminary inquiry report is a confidential document which is registered by CBI before instituting a regular case and the same is also not supplied to the accused persons, however in the present matter, the same has been in the hands of people outside the investigating agency, which gives rise to grave suspicion and apprehension of interference of third parties into the investigation of the present matter," reads the petition, as accessed by News18.
The case has now been posted to January 22 when the CBI is expected to furnish its response.
The lawyer told News18 that the question of "tampering of such transcripts cannot be ruled out as there was third party access now to the transcripts".
Quddusi also claimed that CBI must be charged with criminal misconduct if it had leaked the tapes, else an offence of theft was inevitable.
"If the transcripts have been leaked by someone from the investigating agency then it may amount to criminal misconduct and if the transcripts have been stolen, it may amount the offence of theft, apart from various other offences," submitted the former judge who was arrested last year on the charges of graft along with other accused persons but was later granted bail by a Delhi court.
He highlighted some major publications who gave out details of the purported transcript of the alleged conversation between Quddusi, a middleman and B P Yadav, owner of UP-based medical college, Prasad Education Trust, claiming that their phones were tapped by the CBI.
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