The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and CBI on the shifting of Joint Director Ashok Tewari from 2G and Aircel-Maxis scam related probes. The Bench of Chief Justice Hl Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra directed the CBI not to transfer any officer related to the 2G probe, including Additional Director RK Dutta till the next hearing on April 20. The matter was brought to the notice of the court by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who pointed out that the Supreme Court, that is monitoring the 2G probe had intervened in the past to stall the transfer of CBI DIG Santosh Rastogi and Enforcement Directorate Deputy Director Rajeshwar Singh.
“In utter disregard of assurances, two senior officers Ashok Tewari and RK Dutta investigating the Swan-Etisalat and Aircel Maxis scams have been taken off the case and Tewari has been even relieved,” said Swamy arguing for stay on the CBI’s actions. The court asked the CBI Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover to verify the charges leveled in the application. Grover said that Tewari had been relieved. This confirmed the fear expressed by Swamy, who requested the court to order that no other officer involved in the 2G probe should be relieved or transferred under any pretext.
Grover assured the court that no officer will be transferred and claimed that Tewari’s case was different as he completed his tenure and was due for repatriation to his parent cadre. Swamy in his petition alleged that key officers were shifted soon after former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was questioned in the Aircel-Maxis scam. A week after questioning Chidambaram in December, Tewari was shifted to a redundant division called Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency in connection with probes on the conspiracy angles of Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. “Just a day before the SC hearing, CBI repatriated him to his parent cadre Himachal Pradesh,” he said. The Bench also called for a status report from CBI and ED in the pending 2G probe by next date of hearing.