The Central Information Commission has directed the CBI to make public reasons for not including names of top Indian industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani in the ISD call re-routing case in which some top executives of Reliance Infocomm were named accused.
Last year, the CBI has filed a charge sheet against Manoj Modi and five others in a case relating to masking of international calls as local by Reliance Infocomm when it was controlled by Mukesh Ambani-led RIL.
RTI applicant P C Srivastava had sought to know from the CBI the reasons for not making Anil Ambani and Mukesh Ambani as accused in the case relating to alleged manipulation and tampering of calling lines identification of ISD calls by Reliance Infocomm Ltd and thereby passing off international
calls as local ones.
The agency refused to disclose the information saying doing so would adversely affect its prosecution in the case. When the matter reached the transparency panel, the CBI told information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi that the reasons for not prosecuting the Ambanis were on record.
"However, disclosing such information would provide clues to other persons accused in the said case by which they would be able to argue why they should also not be charged," the CBI officials told the Commission.
Rejecting the arguments, Gandhi said CBI officials "have not been able to justify how disclosing the information would impede the process of prosecution of offenders" hence information sought by applicant should be provided before June 20.
In its order, Information Commission Gandhi said, "In the instant case, the PIO has relied on Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act and argued that disclosing such information would provide clues to other persons accused in the relevant case by which they would be able to argue why they should also not be charged and this would impede the prosecution of offenders."
Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act exempts disclosure of information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders. Gandhi noted that the argument raised by the PIO to justify the denial of information on the section "appears to be nothing more than a mere apprehension on her part".
"The PIO has failed to produce or place reliance on any cogent evidence or material before the Commission on the basis of which she can establish that disclosure of information would impede the prosecution of offenders," he said directing the CBI to provide information before June 20.
The CBI had taken up the investigation of the company in 2006, a year after Mukesh and his younger brother Anil reached a family settlement to divide the Reliance empire, as part of which the Reliance Infocomm went to Anil. The company has since been rechristened Reliance Communications.
Besides Modi, CBI named Akhil Gupta, Shankar Adawal, Pankaj Powar, K R Raju and Bhagwan Das Khurana of Reliance Infocomm Ltd in the charge sheet. Gupta has since left the Mukesh Ambani group and is now heading Blackstone, a leading US private equity firm.
The case relates to manipulation and tampering of calling lines identification of ISD calls by Reliance Infocomm and thereby, passing off international calls as local ones and causing loss to the government and its PSUs, BSNL and MTNL, to the tune of several crores of rupees.
