Prashant Bhushan now files criminal complaint against Justice CK Prasad; Seeks registration of FIR by CBI

Pursuing his strong opinions against Justice CK Prasad, advocate Prashant Bhushan has now filed complaints with the CBI and the CVC seeking investigation into the abuse of office and criminal misconduct on the part of the former Supreme Court Judge. Bhushan has also sought immediate registration of an FIR against the newly appointed Press Council Chairman for committing offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. This action by Bhushan comes days after he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking cancellation of Justice Prasad’s appointment as Chairman of Press Council of India..In his complaint to the Director of the CBI and the Senior Vigilance Commissioner of the CVC, Bhushan has alleged that Justice Prasad abused his position as a Judge to confer significant benefit on a private party..The allegations pertain to the matter involving Mistry Constructions wherein Justice Prasad had tagged an unrelated matter to a case he was hearing and disposed of that tagged matter in favour of Mistry Construction. Senior advocate Dushyant Dave had made allegations pertaining to this case earlier this year..The complaint states that,.“Justice Prasad’s former junior’s in-laws are the main owners of Mistry Constructions. The lawyer appearing for Mistry Constructions Mr. AK Srivastava shares his chamber (90, Lawyers Chambers, Supreme Court) with Mr. Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, the son of Justice Prasad. Thus Justice Prasad was aware of this case and had an interest in the matter.”.It further states that when the advocate in the case, CU Singh was approached, he told Senior advocate Dushyant Dave,.“…I pointed out to the court that the Civil Appeal which was tagged with the Criminal Appeal in which I was appearing had no connection at all with my matter. The Ld. Presiding Judge, Chandramauli Kr. Prasad J, immediately said that they too had seen it was unconnected and that the only thing common was that CIDCO was a party. He asked me to proceed with my matter which I argued and succeeded in. I assumed the matter stood de-tagged and left the Court. I’m not aware of what happened thereafter, but if the hearing of the Civil Appeal proceeded, even though it was found to be wrongly tagged, then it’s a matter of disquiet.”.Subsequently, an order passed by the Bench allegedly helped Mistry Construction “get the tender and 35 hectares of prime land at throwaway price.”.Bhushan concludes by saying,.“The above facts show that Justice Prasad abused his position as a Judge of Supreme Court in order to confer huge pecuniary advantage on a private party (Mistry Constructions) and thus committed criminal misconduct under Section 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act…therefore, I request you to kindly get this matter thoroughly and impartially investigated after registering an FIR. Please note that registration of FIR is mandatory once there are allegations of cognizable offences having being committed.”.In his letter to the Prime Minister, Bhushan had described in detail the manner in which Justice Prasad had abused his power to pass orders in favour of Mistry Constructions.