| If Zee News began December with
the busting of a currency notes scam in Nashik in western India's
Maharashtra state, it has ended January on an equally high news
note.
An expose it did on falling judicial standards where it managed
to get arrest warrants issued against against the President
and Chief Justice of India for a paltry bribe of Rs 10,000
each has led to the Supreme Court ordering the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) to probe the allegations.
Zee News Mumbai correspondent Vijay Shekhar was the man behind
the sting operation that allegedly exposed the "crumbling
law and order standards in the Ahmedabad". Shekhar had
a chance meeting with some people in Mumbai who alleged they
were issued false arrest warrants by Ahmedabad Courts on the
instigation of a business rival.
Taking a cue from the meeting, he approached a couple of
lawyers at Ahemedabad to file a false case against four high
profile people from Delhi. With just Rs 40, 000 (@ Rs 10,000
per person) Sekhar was able to manage arrest warrants against
the President of India and Chief Justice of India, among others.
Money exchanged hands and Sekhar was assured that the magistrate
would do the needful. The "arrest warrants" issued
by a metropolitan magistrate in Ahmedabad were not handed
over to the police in Delhi, but to the Zee News correspondent.
A shocked Chief Justice on Wednesday directed the Gujarat
High Court to immediately take action. According to a report
filed by news agency Press Trust of India, the Apex Court
had earlier issued notices to the Centre, the state of Gujarat,
registrar general of Gujarat High Court, the "erring"
Metropolitan Magistrate Brahmbhatt and Suresh Jethalal Sanghvi,
who purportedly filed a false complaint "and on that
basis the warrants".
The bench comprising Chief Justice VN Khare,
Justice SB Sinha and Justice S Kapadia has asked the CBI to
submit its report by 6 February, the next date of hearing.
The court also issued notices to three advocates
-- Iqbal Kataa, Narender Chaudhary and Harish Bhawaniwala
-- who acted as middlemen between the complainant and the
magistrate.
Also Read:
Zee News does a Tehelka;
busts currency notes scam in Nashik
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