Apex court not willing to protect anyone who is guilty, everyone is accountable

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday allowed the government to investigate the disproportionate assets allegations against the senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) Rajeshwar Singh, probing the Aircel-Maxis and 2G spectrum case.

In doing so, the SC snatched the blanket of protection from inquiry that was favouring the ED officer. The apex court cited a government affidavit which said it is not willing to protect anyone who is guilty, no matter how high their official position might be. The Centre also said that it would take the Aircel-Maxis probe to its logical conclusion.

Earlier today, the apex court said that because the allegations are serious and as the 2G case is a sensitive one, the ED officer probing it should not be under a cloud.

However, today the Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing at the Centre, told the court that the government was willing to investigate the allegations that Rajeshwar amassed disproportionate assets and handed over a communication in a sealed cover to the bench. The SC bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjay K Kaul also gave the sealed-cover allegations against the ED officer, Rajeshwar, involving national security issues. 

An ED officer cannot be given immunity just because he had a blanket of protection from the apex court while probing the 2G scam and the Aircel-Maxis case, the SC bench said.

"As a matter of fact, when there are allegations, whether right or wrong against you (Rajeshwar) it has to be looked into, the things which have come before us are startling. You are simply an officer. You can't be given a blanket clean chit. Everybody is accountable. You must be accountable for any action. We need to ensure that you are accountable. We don't want to damage you or comment against you. There are very serious allegations against you," the bench told the ED officer.

Rajneesh Kapur, who claims to be an investigative journalist, has filed a petition in the apex court asking for an investigation against Rajeshwar for allegedly amassing assets which are disproportionate to his known source of income.

Rajeshwar has also filed a separate contempt plea against Kapur and has claimed that the attempts have been made to scuttle or delay the ongoing probe in the Aircel Maxis case. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has also moved the top court requesting its permission to implead himself as a party in the plea filed by Kapur.

The apex court on March 12 had set a deadline of six months for the CBI and the ED to complete the investigation into the alleged irregularities by certain approvals given in the Aircel-Maxis deal case in which former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti have been questioned by probe agencies.