New Delhi, September 25: The CBI on Monday informed the Supreme Court about the involvement of a "foreign hand" to tarnish Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's image and reputation by accusing him of abducting a fictitious woman.
The agency also claimed that a petition in the Allahabad high court by one Kishore Samrite making baseless allegations against the Congress leader was "funded", emphasizing that it had even seized chits showing he received money for paying lawyers' fees.
In its status report, submitted to the court in a sealed cover, the CBI said the woman Rahul was accused of abducting did not exist, and had been conjured up in reports uploaded on three foreign websites, which Samrite used with an ulterior motive. "She is non-existent, her address is fictitious and there is no record whatsoever with the UP government or local bodies," the CBI informed a bench of Justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar.
The bench is hearing an appeal by Samrite challenging the HC's decision to impose a fine of Rs 50 lakh for filing a frivolous petition. SC had stayed the HC order on April 6 last year.
On the HC's directions, the CBI on March 11 last year lodged an FIR against Samrite, owners of the websites and unknown persons accusing them of conspiracy and booking them under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal defamation.
Before the SC on April 6 stayed the HC order, the CBI within 25 days had reached the website owners located abroad asking for details of the IP addresses from which the offensive content was uploaded on the websites.
"Those website owners told CBI to come through the proper legal channel," additional solicitor general Harin Raval informed the court. He said CBI was considering issuance of letters rogatory through Indian courts to request officials in those countries for assistance in the investigation when the SC stay order stopped further probe.
"During questioning, Samrite said the litigation was funded. He has given the CBI details of who had funded the litigation. The investigating officer has recovered chits about money deposited by him after receiving it from the funders. The money was used to pay lawyers," Raval said.
Samrite, a former SP MLA from Madhya Pradesh, had claimed that he had filed the petition in the HC on the direction of top SP leaders. On being questioned by the court, Samrite's counsel Kamini Jaiswal had informed the bench that her client had filed the petition in 2010 on the direction of SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav.
The UP government had objected to the names of top leaders of the ruling party being taken so casually. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told the bench that Samrite was a liar whose petition needed to be thrown out without any consideration of his plea.
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