Court tells CBI to keep off media

Judge: Why make so many calls to media?

Advising CBI joint director V.V. Lakshminarayana not to interact with the media, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday wondered why the Central Bureau of Investigation needed to make so many calls to the media.

While dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking action against Mr Lakshminarayana for selectively leaking information to certain media personnel about the ongoing investigations into certain highprofile cases, acting Chief Justice P.C. Ghose questioned CBI counsel about the need for the investigating agency to make calls to the media.

Justice Ghose asked counsel whether the CBI manual permitted an investigation officer to interact with the media when a case was under investigation.

When counsel replied in the negative, the judge enquired, “Then why are they (CBI officers) interacting with the media? Is it necessary for them?”

Mr Bhushan B. Bhavanam, a businessman from Guntur, had filed the plea seeking action against Mr Lakshminarayana, alleging that the CBI official had misled the court by informing it earlier that he had not talked to the media though his call data list had shown otherwise.

Counsel Rama Rao Immaneni for the petitioner Bhushan B. Bhavanam, a businessman from Guntur, said that CBI joint director V.V. Lakshminarayana had earlier submitted an affidavit denying allegations that he had spoken to the media. However, his call data proved otherwise, he said.

Acting Chief Justice P.C. Ghose of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, hearing the case along with Justice C. Praveen Kumar, said, “If you want specific relief, you can file a writ or avail remedy available under civil law before the lower court.”

The petitioner’s counsel replied that the matter involved “public interest” and that he was seeking action against the officer for misleading the court.

He said that talking to the media regarding a probe was against the manual of the agency and added that innumerable phone calls had been made and received between the JD and the representatives of Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi newspapers.

He said that the joint director was not authorised to speak to anyone except his higher authorities on matters pertaining to cases under investigation.

CBI counsel P. Kesava Rao contended that it was a frivolous litigation purely based on newspaper reports and there was no material to show that Mr Lakshminarayana had interacted with the media and urged the court to dismiss the plea.

The bench directed CBI counsel to submit the Bureau’s response to the plea on July 9.