SC notice to Vodafone, Airtel in Saradha scam

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to telecom service providers Vodafone and Airtel on a CBI plea claiming that the two service providers were not co-operating with the probe agency in furnishing the call records of the accused in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam. As the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to the two service providers on the application by the CBI, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi described the allegations as "completely wrong".

Denying the charge, Rohatgi appearing for Vodafone asserted, "We have given everything" sought by the probe agency.  The probe agency sought call record details from the two service providers as the CD given by the West Bengal police, which initially investigated the case before it was handed over to the CBI by the top court, was blank. 

The hearing also saw Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pointing to an incident at the Kolkata International Airport where police officials threatened custom officers as they tried to scan the luggage of Rujira Narula - wife of Trinamool Congress lawmaker Abhishek Banerjee - on the suspicion of her carrying gold and cash.

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Banerjee is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, With the Solicitor General contending that there was "constitutional anarchy" and "complete lawlessness" in the State, CJI Gogoi asked what he expected the court to do and told him to file an application stating all that he was saying orally.

The court directed the next hearing of the matter on April 8 when the matter relating to the two service providers would be taken up. The incident relates to the intervening night of March 15 and 16 when Narula arrived at Kolkata airport from Bangkok.

Describing the allegations that Narula was caught at Kolkata airport for carrying gold in her check-in baggage as "baseless", Banerjee had on March 24 said that the complaint filed by the customs authorities alleging interference and obstruction by the local police was drafted in Delhi and was "highly politically motivated".