Supreme Court rejects fresh plea seeking probe into Sahara-Birla I-T raids

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today rejected a fresh plea seeking probe into the documents seized during Income Tax raids on Sahara and Birla which contained names of certain politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Prasshant Bhushan’s NGO ‘Common Cause’ last week had filed a fresh petition in the apex court seeking a court- monitored SIT investigation into the raids on two business houses in 2013-14. ‘Common Cause’ had repeatedly been asked by the court to come up with credible material in support of its bribery allegations, in its latest plea filed several documents, including some e-mails, as annexures to its affidavit. While dismissing the petition today, the SC said that evidence submitted by the NGO were not enough to order an inquiry. The documents do not contain any conclusive evidence in it, the court said today. A bench headed by Justice Khehar had last month questioned the NGO and its lawyer Prashant Bhushan whether aspersions could be cast against the prime minister without placing “sufficient”, “firm” and “clear” materials. It had also said that the PIL was based on “zero material” and was only making “insinuations” and asked Bhushan to come out with credible material for the court to consider. The court had on December 14 made it clear that it is not going to entertain the plea of the NGO unless it comes out with firm and relevant material.