DA case against Mulayam Singh: SC refuses to entertain fresh plea

Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a fresh plea seeking a further probe by CBI into allegations that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had amassed disproportionate assets worth over Rs 100 crore during his tenure as UP Chief Minister between 1999 and 2005.

A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and PC Pant said the apex court in 2013 had already dealt with these aspects.

It however said if there was any grievance regarding non-filing of FIRs or registration of Preliminary Enquiry (PE) a fresh plea can be filed.

“We are of the view that the prayers made in the Interim Applications (IA) stands answered in December 13, 2012 judgement...accordingly the prayer for delivering judgement in the aforesaid IA of 2009 is not maintainable. The application is dismissed,” the bench said.

Senior advocate KTS Tulsi, appearing for Vishwanath Chaturvedi who had filed the PIL against Yadav in 2005, submitted that the apex court did not pronounce any order on interim pleas filed in 2008 in which it was alleged that CBI cannot close its investigation against Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Chief Minister son Akhilesh Yadav without intimating the Supreme Court.

Tulsi said in 2013, CBI had said it was closing the case against Mulayam Singh due to insufficient evidence of disproportionate assets and added that a case can be closed only when the CBI files a formal closure report in the court.

The fresh plea alleged that the court had ordered CBI inquiry into the disproportionate assets case in 2007 and subsequently it was said that the probe agency did not sufficient evidence against the SP chief.

“We don’t know what happened whether any RC or PE has been registered or not,” Tulsi said.

To this, the bench said it gives rise to a fresh cause of action and this issue cannot be dealt in a decided case.

Sensing the mood of the bench, Tulsi sought to withdraw the petition with a liberty to file a fresh writ petition. The plea was rejected as court chose to dismiss the petition.

In December 2012, the court had directed CBI to go ahead with the probe against the SP Chief and his Chief Minister son while dropping investigation against Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh.