SC to hear plea against CBI probe in gutkha case

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a petition filed by an accused in the gutkha scam in Tamil Nadu, challenging the April 26 decision of the Madras High Court to transfer the case to the CBI.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra agreed to list the matter before an appropriate Bench on May 14 for hearing.

The petition filed by accused E. Sivakumar said the High Court passed the order when the investigation relating to the allegations of violation of the ban on gutkha and other tobacco products by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Commission (DVAC) had already commenced and was at an “advanced stage”.

The petitioner-accused, represented by advocate Misha Rohatgi, said the High Court passed the order of transfer of the case to the CBI on the basis of a petition filed by an opposition MLA for “obvious political mileage, without considering the plight of persons like the petitioner, who are government officials and who have been already co-operating with the investigation”.

The petition contended that the transfer order was given without hearing any of the accused persons and without looking into the status of the investigation.

The High Court even failed to “consider that the present investigation by the DVAC itself is pursuant to an order of the High Court in another matter.”

The illegal gutkha business in Tamil Nadu allegedly involved Ministers and the incumbent Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran.

‘A crime against society’

The First Division Bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose had passed the order on two public interest litigation petitions, one filed by DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan and the other by activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy.

“The underground gutkha business is a crime against society and, therefore, we deem it fit to order a CBI probe into the issue,” the judges had observed while passing the order.

The judges had made it clear that a CBI probe ordered by them should not be construed as a definite conclusion with respect to the complicity of any of the persons involved in the alleged business and that it was up to the investigating agency to unearth the truth.

The issue, relating to the alleged payment of bribes to Ministers and some top police officers for the manufacture and sale of gutkha was brought to light by The Hindu following searches conducted by the Income Tax department on the premises of the manufacturers of gutkha, a banned substance in the State.