Sohrabuddin killing: Why the govt is blocking Subramaniam for SC

How has the BJP government come to trust the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) so much that it chooses to place the CBI opinion above the Supreme Court collegium’s well considered decision to appoint the former solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam as a justice in the highest court? The same BJP leadership had the choicest invectives for the CBI top brass till the other day. Yet, the new government has chosen to ask CBI for its view on Gopal Subramaniam. [caption id=“attachment_1582115” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Gopal Subramanian. IBNLive[/caption] Interestingly, such inputs are normally given as a matter of procedure by the Intelligence Bureau. The IB didn’t find any blemish in Gopal’s record in its own report. But as if on cue, the CBI chose to cast doubts over Gopal’s conduct as a law officer of the government, in the 2G case. Gopal had told journalists that CBI ’s fresh observations are an afterthought as the investigation agency till recently consulted him on some of its most sensitive cases. So, Gopal’ s question is, if the CBI had found his conduct suspicious, why did the investigation agency continue to use his legal services well after he had quit as one of the senior most law officers of the UPA government in 2012. The CBI may be hard put to answer that question. Gopal has also rebutted another input given by the CBI which suggests that he may have taken a favour from the Taj Group of hotels in the form of complimentary swimming facility organised by Niira Radia. He has said he never used the Taj swimming pool facility and was neither a member there. The CBI input is based on Niira Radia telling some third person, in the Radia tapes, that such facility may be offered to Gopal Subramaniam. It appears that the CBI has worked really hard to create doubts about Gopal’s conduct based on innuendos, said a source in another premiere investigation agency. It is instructive that the Intelligence Bureau, which also has the Radia tapes, did not find merit in the questions the CBI is raking up. The background and context as to why Gopal Subramaniam may not be preferred as a SC judge by this government is not so difficult to fathom. Gopal Subramaniam was an amicus curie (a friend of the court) in the fake encounter killing matter in which Sohrabuddin and his wife were allegedly eliminated by the Gujarat police when they were travelling by bus from Hyderabad to Sangli. The alleged encounter killing was preceded by Sohrabuddin’s wife being subjected to sexual assault. Gopal was assisting the Supreme Court which had chosen to order a CBI inquiry into the matter after it was clearly established that the Gujarat police wasn’t inclined to conduct a fair investigation into the matter. In the fresh CBI investigation conducted under the Supreme Court direction, it was established, with Gopal’s assistance, that a third person was also travelling with Sohrabuddin and his wife. The third person named Tusliram Prajapati was found to be missing and later allegedly killed in another fake encounter. These facts were brought out with Gopal’s assistance. The discovery of Tulsiram Prajapati and the alleged link of Amit Shah to the Sohrabuddin case was brought out before the SC when Gopal was playing an active role as an amicus curie appointed by the court. This fact will not be lost on the SC judges as they prepare to respond to the BJP government’s objection to the appointment of Gopal Subramaniam as a judge in the apex court. The last has not been heard in this fresh face off between the Supreme Court and the BJP government which is bent on blocking Gopal’s appointment. The Supreme Court collegium consisting of five judges will examine the fresh input by the CBI against Gopal. They will also weigh it against the fact that the more credible agency, the Intelligence Bureau, whose word is taken seriously in these matters, has not given any negative input in its report on Gopal Subramaniam. The five judge collegium may yet rule by a majority in his favour. Gopal’s competence and integrity was never in question among his peers. Which is why the SC collegium chose him in the first place. It is clear as daylight that the BJP government is blocking him for reasons other than lack of competence or integrity. Unfortunately, the new government is already displaying a tendency that with a brute majority anything is possible.