The income-tax department on Tuesday finally filed its comprehensive probe report in the Supreme Court in the 2G case, which includes investigation into the leak of Radia tapes to the media.
The I-T department gave a “clean chit” to the government agencies, including public sector telecom companies whose services were required by its sleuths to tap the phone of consultant Niira Radia in the course of tax violation probe against her. The report was filed in the “sealed cover” by additional solicitor-general Indira Jaising before a bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya after the court earlier had disapproved a summary report of the I-T department. Ms Jaising only read out the conclusion of the report, saying whatever transcription of the tapes were published or telecast by the media were found to be “tampered” with. She stated none of the government agencies associated in probing the case and the public sector telecom companies were involved in the leak.
Though the ASG did not said it in so many words, but by giving a clean chit to public sector telecom companies, she apparently gave enough indication that it might have been done by private telecom service providers, whose network was also used to tap the phone of Ms Radia. The I-T department had got sanction from the home ministry to intercept her phones. Meanwhile, industrialist Ratan Tata, whose name also figured in the transcripts of the tapes, published by the media, through his counsel submitted that the Constitution has guaranteed him right to privacy and the media had no “unbridled right” to transgress it. “I (Tata) am entitled to the freedom of privacy,” his counsel Mukul Rohatgi argued.