In its status report filed in the Supreme Court, the CBI has submitted the analysis of 73,000 conversations between controversial corporate lobbyist Nira Radia, bureaucrats, business leaders and journalists among others for which the agency has registered 14 Preliminary Enquiries to probe criminality.
The sources said, the CBI has submitted its analysis of the conversations, status of evidence collected and implications of the same for the ongoing enquiries.
While the CBI has claimed that it has not found criminality so far during the analysis of these conversations, the agency has sought instructions to proceed further in the ongoing PEs registered to enquire criminality relating to the tapped conversations of Radia and others, agency sources said.
The tapes of intercepted conversations were furnished by the Income Tax Department and the PEs were registered at the behest of the apex court.
In its status report, the CBI has said that it has not found any substantive evidence to indicate her direct involvement in the alleged corrupt practices. It has also said most of the conversations indicated that she was bragging about her connections with the high ups in the government and media.
The SC will take cognisance of the status report next week when it resumes functioning after winter vacation. During the hearing, the agency will also seek one month’s additional time to conduct the probe.
The agency has also mentioned the outcomes of examinations of a television news channel and a senior executive of a major newspaper group. “Radia’s conversations reveal deep-rooted malice by private enterprises in connivance with Government officials for extraneous purposes,” the Supreme Court had said, adding the telephonic conversations suggest corrupt means were adopted by private parties to extract gains.