CD row: Bhushan goes to SC against Amar Singh

Seeking the court to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against Amar Singh,Bhushan,who will appear in person in the petition,alleged that the circulation of the CD among the media was a sinister attempt to derail the hearing of all important cases argued by Prashant Bhushan before the Bench.

Both the father and the son are civil society members nominated to the joint committee working on the draft of the revised Lokpal Bill.

The alleged contents of the CD have been fabricated with a malicious intention to interfere with the administration of justice as it tries to create an impression that a particular Bench of this Honourable Court (one of the judges of this Honourable Court has been named in the CD by the contemnor (Amar Singh)) can be managed through the informants son (Prashant), Bhushan stated in his contempt petition.

He alleged that the CD was targeted to have one of the two judges recuse himself from the Amar Singh case. The Bench had only recently reserved its final order on an application filed by Prashant to release the tapes,allegedly containing conversations by Amar Singh,in the public domain.

There was also a general indication from the apex court Bench that there would be no harm in releasing the tapes in public interest. Amar Singh had contested their release.

The attempt seems to be to try and make the judge recuse himself from the case by adding his name and suggesting that Mr Prashant Bhushan is on very good terms with the judge and is in a position to influence him. This is a totally false and scurrilous suggestion,is a clear attempt to embarrass the judge and to interfere with the administration of justice, the senior advocate said.

Maintaining that he had never met Amar Singh and the CD was totally fabricated,Bhushan explained his reason to file contempt proceedings against the former SP leader.

It seems clear that Mr Amar Singh must be involved in this fabrication as he states in the purported conversation that Mr Shanti Bhushan is sitting with him. The fact of the matter is that the informant (Shanti) has never met the alleged contemnor and therefore if this sentence is continuous and is,as it seems to be,in Mr Amar Singhs voice, then clearly Mr Amar Singh has either engineered the CD or has cooperated in its fabrication, the petition said.

The purported conversation in the CD is among Shanti,former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh.

Alleging that the Delhi Police had not managed to get even a copy of the CD till the evening of April 17,2011, though it seems to be circulating freely among all sections of the media,Bhushan said the police on its own may not do genuine or complete investigation and requested the Supreme Court to form a special investigation team.

It is only after the press conference which was done by Mr Prashant Bhushan on the evening of April 17,2011,(that) one constable came around 8.15 pm and collected the CD, the petition said.

The petition claimed to have identified the earlier conversation between Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh from which some parts of the CD had allegedly been made. The earlier conversation,the petition says,is part of another CD which has already been part of the court records since 2006. Annexing the conversations in the earlier and present CDs in his petition,Shanti invited the court to study the comparisons of the two tapes.

Meanwhile,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said that he had been assured by the Delhi Police that there would be a free,fair and thorough probe into the CD. I have been assured by the Delhi Police that there would be free,fair and thorough probe. The CD will be examined in at least two different labs for separate reports, Chidambaram told reporters.