The CBI would seek from the Supreme Court one month’s more time to probe the entire gamut of the Nira Radia tapes, which have been handed over to the agency by the Income Tax department, even as it has informed the apex court that it has not found any criminality so far in the 14 Preliminary Enquiries registered on the basis of intercepted conversations of the controversial corporate lobbyist.
In its status report submitted to the apex court recently, CBI has said that most of the conversations pertained to her bragging about connections with the high and mighty but so far no concrete evidence has been found which could indicate her direct involvement in corrupt practices, CBI sources said.
The sources said Supreme Court will take cognisance of the status report next week when it would open after winter vacation.
The agency has also given details of suspects' examinations carried out by it while probing the 14 enquiries registered by it. The agency has examined a journalist from a television news channel and a senior executive of a leading newspaper group. This apart, the CBI has also questioned executives of Reliance, Unitech and Tata Motors in connection with its enquiries.
The CBI will soon call other bigwigs from print and electronic media besides top executives from the corporate sector for gathering information on criminal aspects of those conversations. The apex court bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi had ordered the CBI to probe 14 issues relating to the tapped conversations of Radia.
The court has also referred one of the matters to the Chief Vigilance Officer of the department of mines for investigation and another to the Chief Justice of India.
“Radia's conversations reveal deep-rooted malice by private enterprises in connivance with Government officials for extraneous purposes,” the Supreme Court had said. The court had said the telephonic conversations suggest corrupt means were adopted by private parties to extract gains.