Tendered Apology To Orissa HC CJ, Judge For Attempted House Raid: CBI Tells SC [Read Affidavit]

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Monday, told the Supreme Court that it has apologized to the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court as well as to Justice C.R. Dash, whose house it had attempted to raid last month.

The submission was made by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, who was representing the CBI before a Bench headed by Justice A.K. Sikri. The Affidavit submitted before the Court says, "Hon'ble Chief Justice also informed the CBI Officers that the Registrar General would be writing a letter to the Director, CBI asking him to look into the matter to avoid recurrence and requested for a line on the action taken in this regard.

Further, it was also decided during discussion that CBI would be sending another letter to the Registrar General, High Court Orissa expressing regret for the incident and the Registrar General requested that the said letter may reach him before 11.30 hours on 22^nd September, 2017 before the meeting of the Bar Association with Hon'ble Chief Justice. Further, DIG & SP also regretted for the inconvenience caused to Justice C.R. Dash due to the visit of the CBI team."

The Affidavit further clarifies that the CBI had no intention to enter Justice Dash's residence as the team was actually looking for former Chief Justice I.M. Quddusi, an accused in a corruption case relating to admissions to medical colleges.

After such submissions, the Bench encouraged the parties to settle the matter “amicably”. Further, the Counsel appearing for Orissa High Court was asked to verify CBI's claim of having tendered an unconditional apology. The matter has now been posted for hearing after two weeks.

The Orissa High Court Bar Association had filed a Writ Petition before the High Court seeking judicial inquiry into the alleged raids conducted by the CBI at Justice Dash's residence. The Court was now hearing a Petition filed by the CBI seeking transfer of the matter to Delhi High Court.