New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused
to direct CBI to register a case against former Congress MP
Mani Kumar Subba, whose citizenship has come under cloud.
The court, however, said the petitioner could press the
agency to lodge an FIR against him on the basis of its reports
which indicated he obtained his birth certificate in a
fraudulent manner.
It said the petitioner, who had questioned the
nationality of Subba, could approach the CBI for lodging an
FIR on the basis of reports which stated that cognizable
offence was made out against the former Assam MP for cheating
and forgery under Indian Penal Code and violating the
provision of Indian Passports Act.
"We are not going to give direction to CBI for lodging
of FIR but you are at liberty to take initiative with CBI for
taking action against him (Subba) on the basis of reports. The
reports are against him," a Bench, comprising Chief Justice K
G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan,
said.
The PIL filed by a Noida resident, Birendra Nath
Singh, in 2005 had alleged that the then Lok Sabha MP from
Tezpur and lottery baron had come to India after a murder case
was registered against him in Nepal in the early 1970s.
The Bench, which expressed its constraint in directing
the CBI to register FIR, also refused Singh's counsel Ambhoj
Kumar Sinha be supplied with the copies of the reports for
pursuing the case with the agency.
It said that petitioners can only inspect the reports
filed in sealed covers in the court for pursuing the matter.
"No you cannot be supplied with the copies of the
reports. You will only be permitted to peruse and inspect the
reports," the Bench said declining the repeated plea of Sinha
that he should be supplied with the copies of the reports for
pressing the CBI to take action against Subba.
The advocate said when the three reports clearly
indicated that there was a clear case of forgery made out
against the Congress leader, the apex court should not
hesitate to order registration of a case against him by the
CBI.
He said the case in hand was one of perjury as Subba
violated all democratic norms.
The court, which wanted to close the matter, was
persuaded by Sinha to keep it pending as the CBI had swung
into action only on its order to verify the documents made
available by Subba to prove his Indian nationality.
The CBI in one of its report had said "thus, the
verification undertaken has revealed a prima-facie commission
of cognizable offences punishable under section 420
(cheating), 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged document as
genuine) and 193 (giving false evidence in judicial
proceedings) of IPC and section 12 of the Passports Act, on
the part of Subba and others."
During the hearing, Congress leader and senior advocate
Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Subba, submitted that either
the court dispose of the matter or hear the arguments of both
sides before taking any decision.
CBI in January had filed reports in a sealed cover
relating to the examination of objections raised by Subba in
his affidavit to the initial findings by the investigating
agency which had rejected his claim that he was born in West
Bengal's Siliguri district.
The Congress leader, who failed to retain the Lok Sabha
seat from Tezpur, had raised objections to the verification
report filed by the CBI on December 10, 2007 on his
nationality.
The apex court had in January last year allowed his plea
that the agency should further probe the matter as three
certificates have been procured from Nepal to question his
citizenship.
The CBI had said the MP had given different dates of
birth and places of birth to various authorities and was thus
"prima facie" guilty of various criminal offences.
The CBI's reports had come in the backdrop of the apex
court's direction to probe the nationality of Subba, who
according to a public interest litigation was a Nepalese
citizen who fled that country in the 1970s after a murder case
was registered against him there.
Subba, in an affidavit before the apex court, had claimed
that his date of birth was March 16, 1958. He had claimed that
he was born in Dadgram village in Darjeeling district of West
Bengal and his parents had migrated from Singtam village in
Sikkim.
Subba had claimed that he was born at a house in Dabgra
in Siliguri and named Phanindranath Sarkar as its owner.
The PIL had alleged that Subba had changed his name from
Mani Raj Limbo to Mani Kumar Subba after fleeing Nepal.
The CBI in its report had said its verification has
revealed that the certificate was bogus and obtained in a
fraudulent manner.
"The certificate of birth produced by him in this regard
along with his affidavit has been obtained by
misrepresentation of facts and in a fraudulent manner since
the given birth place was neither in existence nor
Phanindranath Sarkar was its owner during and prior to 1958,"
the CBI had stated in its earlier report.
The CBI, which had verified the affidavit filed by Subba
in the apex court, had said the documents provided by him
relating to the alleged murder case against him in Nepal could
not be verified as the reply from Kathmandu was awaited.
The agency, which on earlier occasions, had been pulled
up for adopting a dilly-dallying approach in the matter,
accused Subba of giving "inconsistent" and "contradictory"
details with various authorities, including the Lok Sabha
Secretariat and the passport officials vis-a-vis his date and
place of birth.
According to the probe agency, which provided details
about Subba's affidavits filed before various authorities, the
former MP provided two separate dates of birth -- March 16,
1951 and March 16, 1958.
Further, it alleged there were inconsistencies relating
to his educational qualification and institutions where he
studied.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 18:28