Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan said that no minister had called up Madras High Court judge R Reghupathy. A controversy had erupted following a reported disclosure by the judge that a Union minister had tried to influence him in a case.

Asked if the judge or anybody else had told him the name of the minister who had allegedly called up the judge to influence him to grant bail to a doctor-son duo in a fake mark-sheet case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Justice Balakrishnan said: “No minister had called the judge. That is my information. It seems that one lawyer claimed that some minister was interested in the case. Then the judge told the lawyer that he was not interested in knowing if any minister was interested or not. The judge has written a letter to the Chief Justice (of the Madras High Court) and he is sending it to me.”

While the CJI refused to elaborate, sources said that Justice R Reghupathy had also clarified the issue to the Madras High Court Chief Justice Hemant Laxman Gokhale. Reghupathy’s letter also carries details of the entire incident, including his conversation with the lawyer who was appearing on behalf of Dr Krishnamurthy and his son Kiruba Sridhar, accused in the Pondicherry University fake marksheet case.

On June 29, Reghupathy created a flutter when he said in an open court that a Union Minister had tried to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to the two accused. Reghupathy wanted an unconditional apology from the lawyer. Reghupathy had also said he would write to the Prime Minister on the “pressure exerted” on him.

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