SC dismisses PIL seeking SIT probe against Nirav, Choksi

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL seeking Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe against Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in the PNB scam after it took serious exception to disparaging comments made in the petition against the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

This came as a surprising turn of events as on the previous date of hearing in the case, the Court had directed Centre to inform about the status of investigation. On Tuesday too, the Centre came armed with documents in sealed cover. Attorney General KK Venugopal informed the bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra that charge sheet had been filed in the case. The bench even directed the Centre to submit an affidavit in this regard.

It was then that A-G pointed out to a disturbing portion in the petition where the petitioner claimed he had personal knowledge that the Finance Minister shielded the accused. He read other portions of the same petition where similar allegations were leveled against the Prime Minister. Disturbed by these comments, the bench said, “This is not a PIL anymore. Just to tarnish anyone’s name without any basis, PIL cannot be used. Our serious time gets wasted in dealing with such matters.”