NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said it was "frivolous and
slanderous" on a PIL petitioner's part to cite a 20-year-old report in a
little known foreign magazine to allege that 2.5 million francs were
lying in a Swiss bank account, allegedly in the name of former PM Rajiv Gandhi.
Petitioner and advocate M L Sharma narrated how he made personal efforts in Switzerland, Germany and London but failed to get any information from the authorities there and said as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was the legal heir of the deceased, she alone would know of the account details. He sought a direction to the Centre to take steps to bring the amount lying in the foreign bank to India.
A bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and S S Nijjar heaped scorn on the petition and said the assertions were vague and baseless. Attorney general G E Vahanvati pitched in to point out that the petitioner was alleging it on the basis of an unauthenticated 1991 media report.
Sharma had annexed a scanned copy of the report published in 1991 in a Swiss magazine 'SI 46/1991 - Fluchtgelder - Seiten 40/41', which detailed the amount allegedly lying in the name of world leaders, including Rajiv.
When he drew the court's attention to the magazine report, the bench said, "Tomorrow anyone can publish a magazine and publish a photograph with baseless insinuation. Should that become a basis for a PIL?" It dismissed the petition saying it lacked in factual basis and contained vague assertions.
Petitioner and advocate M L Sharma narrated how he made personal efforts in Switzerland, Germany and London but failed to get any information from the authorities there and said as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was the legal heir of the deceased, she alone would know of the account details. He sought a direction to the Centre to take steps to bring the amount lying in the foreign bank to India.
A bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and S S Nijjar heaped scorn on the petition and said the assertions were vague and baseless. Attorney general G E Vahanvati pitched in to point out that the petitioner was alleging it on the basis of an unauthenticated 1991 media report.
Sharma had annexed a scanned copy of the report published in 1991 in a Swiss magazine 'SI 46/1991 - Fluchtgelder - Seiten 40/41', which detailed the amount allegedly lying in the name of world leaders, including Rajiv.
When he drew the court's attention to the magazine report, the bench said, "Tomorrow anyone can publish a magazine and publish a photograph with baseless insinuation. Should that become a basis for a PIL?" It dismissed the petition saying it lacked in factual basis and contained vague assertions.
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