Will India's powerful allow for an investigation into Kalikho Pul's suicide note?

Two points of view

But even though Bhushan is convinced that an investigation is the need of the hour, other such as the Congress's Manish Tiwari see a conspiracy to target the judiciary. 

“We do not know if the allegations are borne out of a wife’s desire to see that the ends of justice are met or there is more to it,” he says, adding that the past few months have seen a lot of confrontation between the government and the judiciary, “it could be a deliberate attempt to target the judiciary” and that Pul’s wife could be “used as a pawn in the bigger game.”

What that bigger game may be is something Tiwari refused to detail, citing insufficient knowledge. While the “suicide note has Pul’s signature on all the pages it is not clear if he himself wrote it,” he says.

The government has so far maintained a distance from the episode even though CJAR had said that it is the duty of the Centre and the state government to investigate such “shocking charges of corruption.”

Verifying the note

Bhushan, however, concedes that since the allegations in the note are unverified - unlike the Sahara-Birla papers, some of which he says were verified by the Income Tax department. But considering the fact that it is a suicide note, the allegations should be taken more seriously. 

Bhushan had earlier moved the SC seeking investigations in the Sahara-Birla diary episode, which named politicians across the spectrum in the BJP and the Congress, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and accused them of taking bribes. The plea was not entertained by the Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice JS Khehar citing inadequacy of evidence.

Another top legal expert, who requested anonymity, also says the chances that the note would be considered enough for a probe look bleak, much like the Jain hawala diaries where the Supreme Court did not take the contents of the diaries to be enough evidence, as well as the Sahara Birla case.

The suicide note

The printed note, in Devnagri script, names several top functionaries, including the Chief Justice of India Justice JS Khehar, Justice Dipak Misra, former Chief Justices, President of India Pranab Mukherjee and several politicians of the Congress, politicians in Arunachal Pradesh and makes serious allegations of corruption against them, accusing them of demanding bribes - directly and indirectly through intermediaries and family members. 

Pul alleges that top legal officers demanded crores in bribe to fix cases, while several crores exchanged hands in other instances; that judgements were influenced in the process. There are also allegations in how top politicians in Arunachal Pradesh were involved in corrupt practices.

Interestingly, raids on a Delhi lawyer in the last couple of months starting in October where several crores were found had reportedly revealed his connections to a family member of a serving Supreme Court judge. The lawyer was later booked under stringent money laundering laws by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Continuing the fight

In the latest development, on 28 February, Puls’ wife Dangwimsai Pul sought a meeting with the Vice President. However, Vice President Hamid Ansari deputed a joint secretary in his office to take the representation.

In the letter to the Vice President, citing the Veeraswamy Judgement which lays down the procedure of investigations against serving judges of the Supreme Court, Pul wrote, “Since in this case the allegations are also against the sitting Chief Justice and the sitting President of India, I am therefore addressing this request to you to exercise the authority which normally the President would have exercised in terms of the Veeraswami’s judgment…” and that “I am, therefore, requesting you to consult other judges in terms of Veeraswami’s judgment and permit filing of an FIR against the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra."

"If these allegations are not credibly investigated, a serious cloud of suspicion will continue to remain over the politicians and judges whose names are mentioned in the suicide note,” she wrote.

“This would be most unfortunate for our democracy as well as for the judiciary. A credible investigation in this matter can only be done by an SIT constituted by 3/5 judges next in seniority to the judges named in the note,” the letter reads.

Earlier, she had moved an application to the Chief Justice seeking a CBI probe into the suicide note. However, she later withdrew the application. Dushyant Dave, the senior lawyer appearing for her, said, “We had filed the plea on the administrative side and not on the judicial side. If your lordships insist on hearing it we will not participate in it and we wish to withdraw.” 

Dave had also raised objections about how the matter had been listed to a junior bench of Justice UU Lalit and Justice AK Goel, as Goel has previously served with CJI Khehar in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Dangwimsai Pul, meanwhile, has written a fresh letter to the SC asking for details. It reportedly asks questions such as: “Whether decision on the administrative side as reported in The Indian Express was indeed taken, and if so, a copy thereof be supplied”, and “Whether the Registry had requested the CJI to place the letter before an appropriate judge, which would mean Justice Chelameswar, being the senior-most judge available, for action on the letter?” 

Edited by Aleesha Matharu