Kalikho Pul’s wife withdraws her probe plea from Supreme Court

In a 60-page note in Hindi, Pul purportedly wrote about his commitment to probity and alleged corruption by a range of public figures. His allegations named former and serving Supreme Court judges, senior law officers, politicians and other persons holding high office. One of the charges made in the note was that relatives of two judges had, via some individuals, indicated that they wanted money from Pul in exchange for ensuring that President’s rule in Arunachal would not be declared illegal. Dangwimsai released her letter addressed to the CJI and sought an FIR into the accusations and an independent probe. Her letter underlined that prior permission from the CJI or other senior judges was imperative before registration of the FIR and launching an investigation against members of the higher judiciary.

“This petition is listed under the orders of the CJI. In view of the fact that allegations are against number of political persons and even the President, the matter was considered to be of public interest. However, the court could not go into the issue since the petitioner sought to withdraw it. Hence, the petition is dismissed as withdrawn,” stated the final order of the court. During the 20-minute hearing on Thursday, Dave protested against listing of the case and made repeated requests for letting her withdraw the plea even though a bench of Justices Adarsh K Goel and Uday U Lalit remarked that the matter was placed before them in pursuant to the CJI’s order and that all the arguments of the senior lawyer were being taken note of.

“Allegations are against so many persons…it concerns this institution. We are taking note of all your arguments,” the bench told Dave, who maintained that a judicial order on her plea would foreclose many of her remedies and that she had written a letter to the CJI only for a decision on the administrative side. “My letter could not have been listed on the judicial side. Your lordships should not hear it and if you insist on hearing it then we don’t want to participate in these proceedings. We would also like to know from the court registry how this matter was listed before this court, Court No. 13, when there are several other courts where it could be listed. It is too sensitive a matter and your lordships should not hear it or it would send a very wrong message,” Dave told the judges.

He also tried to rake up a dismissal order by another bench in Sahara-Birla diary case, in which certain documents allegedly recovered by the Income Tax departments during raids had purportedly named several top politicians as having received kickbaks from corporate houses. But Justice Lalit stopped Dave from making such a reference: “Confine yourself to this case. This is the matter listed before us and nothing else.” Dave then questioned why this matter had jumped at least 10 other courts and was listed before them. “Justice Goel should not hear this matter since he was a colleague of the CJI when they both were judges in Punjab and Haryana High Court. I am hence entitled to know why this matter was listed here,” contended the lawyer, adding that name of a relative of the CJI had also cropped up in Pul’s note.

At this, Justice Goel responded: “You know rosters are made by the CJI. These things are done under the orders of the CJI…allegations are against so many people.” Justice Lalit pointed out that the administrative order before them read that the CJI has issued a directive for listing of Dangwimsai’s letter “as per the roster” and that she would have also been informed about the CJI’s order when an intimation for hearing was sent to her. As Dave refused to budge and said he would want the plea to be withdrawn instead of getting a judicial order on it, Justice Goel, at one point, said: “We can allow you to withdraw your letter but we will have to deal with this petition now. We will do what we think is in the interest of justice.”

However, after the judges had a brief discussion, they said the court would allow them to withdraw the plea. “You ignited this process but now you want to withdraw. So we are letting you withdraw,” Justice Lalit told Dave, and the order was subsequently dictated by Justice Goel. In July 2016, the Supreme Court had quashed imposition of President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh, resulting in the restoration of the Congress government and ouster of Pul who had become Chief Minister in February last year with the support of BJP legislators after he left the Congress.

On August 9, the body of Pul, 47, was found in his official bungalow, which he was preparing to vacate. The note attributed to Pul was dated August 8, a day before his body was found, and was titled “Mere Vichaar” (My Thoughts). The note suggested that he was purportedly under extreme pressure to pay bribes to judges, top law officers and lawyers, as well as other influential politicians.