Chennai exposed: All you need to know about the Katju expose, Bwood style

Justice Markandey Katju, conspicuously silent after making a series of contentious statements like “90 percent of Indians are fools,” has returned to the spotlight in spectacular fashion. This time with an explosive blogpost where he has accused the DMK of forcing the ruling UPA to protect a corrupt judge in the Madras High Court.

In his post, Katju has pointed fingers at the judicial system,  the UPA, DMK and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The dramatic nature of the accusations and the theatrical fashion in which they has been received read so much like the script of a political thriller, that we decided to offer our very own filmy version of this latest scandal. Think ‘Chennai Exposed’ or maybe ‘The Katju Returns’

The cast of characters:

* Justice Markandey Katju (Our pick: Vinod Khanna): Current chairman of the India Press Council and former Chief Justice of the Madras High Court * Unnamed ‘corrupt’ Madras High Court judge, suspected to be Justice S Ashok Kumar (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) * Former Chief Justice of India, Ramesh Chandra Lahoti (Raj Babbar) * The Supreme Court collegium (underpaid extras) * M Karunanidhi, leader of the DMK (Prem Chopra) * Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (Hello, Anupam Kher) * Unnamed Congress leader (Rishi Kapoor, of course)

The plot:

The story is set long, long time ago, in the Madras High Court circa 2005. The DMK reigned over Tamil Nadu and the Congress led UPA still ruled India.

Justice Katju, who was serving as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, is given reason to suspect that one of his additional judges, who enjoys the ‘solid’ support of the DMK, is engaging in ‘corrupt’ activity. He contacts the Chief Justice of India, Ramesh Chandra Lahoti and asks for a secret IB report on said judge.

CJI Lahoti then calls Katju and confirms his worst fears - the said judge is indeed corrupt. The IB report has confirmed this. Yet in a sudden twist, despite the damning report, the additional judge gets an extension after his term runs out. Why?  How can this be?

Cue dramatic music courtesy AR Rahman.

Justice Katju later finds out some startling information: The Supreme Court collegium recommended the tenure of the judge should be discontinued after his 2 year term was over. They sent this recommendation was sent to the Central Government. This makes the extension granted to this errant judge all the more mysterious with a capital M.

Cue flashback to just after the collegium made its recommendation.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is just about to leave the country to attend the UN General Assembly Session, is ominously warned by irate DMK members: Leave the judge alone, or else… DMK will  withdraw support to his already shaky government. “By the time you return from New York, your government will be history,” or something to that effect.

The panicked PM tells a senior Congress member about the situation who assures him that he wil, ahem, take care of it.

CJI Lahoti sends a letter granting the extension, and the deed is done. No one is the wiser until Justice Katju uncovers the truth, pens his blog post, and sets off a million media headlines.

~The End~. To be continued.

The reviews:

The reviews have been largely mixed.

It was strongly criticised by many of the key players in the drama.

Former Chief Justice of India, Justice RC Lahoti dismissed it as a piece of fiction: “Everything is a matter of record. Whatever I have done or not done is all on record with reasons. I have never done anything wrong in my life.”

Congress leader Rashid Alvi also gave it a thumbs down. “Katju wishes to remain in the news. If there was any such thing then he should have spoken at that time. Why is he speaking now?

Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani was ambivalent about the timing of the release: “Whatever he has said is true but I wish he would have spoken at the right time.”

Others gave the melodrama much more positive reviews:

Senior CPM leader D Raja said it could be a trendsetter, “There have been allegations about corruption in the judiciary. But the fresh allegations by Katju once again stress the need for setting up of a National Judicial Commission”

BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi demanded an uncut edition including Congress outtakes: “Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress should come forward and answer the allegations of how different constitutional bodies, including the Judiciary, were misused for political reasons. It is unfortunate and a matter of serious concern”

The sequel:

Possibly buoyed by the success of the first release, Katju has now released a sequel.

Titled ‘Some questions for Justice Lahoti’, the new post takes the former CJI on. With the tagline “He has not gone into any specifics, so let me put him some specific questions”, the post asks him to confirm whether or not he sent him a letter about the corrupt Madras HC judge, the IB inquiry and the other details put forward in the first release.