Bains had first made claims about the plot to frame the CJI in a Facebook post on 20 April, after the allegations surfaced. He said he had been approached to take up the case and organise a press conference, but that he grew suspicious and decided not to take the case. He claimed that he was offered upto Rs 1.5 crores to take up the case. He then said that he spoke to several reliable sources in Delhi, which led him to discover a conspiracy against CJI Gogoi by “a lobby of disgruntled judges, SC fixers, corporate scamsters and a few corrupt Politicians”. He also claimed that he didn’t go public initially because he says he was warned by well-wishers that the “lobby of judges who is planning this conspiracy will turn against me and harm me professionally.” However, he eventually went public on Facebook and also submitted an affidavit in the court on Monday, 22 April, in which he elaborated on the claims in more detail.

Bains provides more details in the affidavit (which is available on his Facebook profile), although curiously, he makes no mention of judges being part of the conspiracy in the affidavit. Instead, in paragraph 17, he claims the conspiracy has been hatched by a “corporate figure who tried to approach an Hon’ble Supreme Court judge to get a favourable order in a high-profile case listed before this Hon’ble Court but was unsuccessful”. The unnamed corporate figure roped in an alleged fixer by the name of Romesh Sharma, who then “ganged up with disgruntled employees and former employees of the Supreme Court” to carry out the conspiracy.

Supreme Court to Examine Lawyer’s Claim of ‘Conspiracy’ to Frame CJI Gogoi

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to advocate Utsav Bains, who has filed an affidavit in the court claiming that the sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi are part of an attempt to frame the CJI, asking him to appear before the court on Wednesday morning with material to back up certain claims made by him.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Rohinton Nariman and Deepak Gupta conducted a short hearing on Tuesday morning regarding the sexual harassment allegations, which has been registered as a suo motu writ petition by the court under the following complicated name:

“In Re: Matter of Great Public Importance Touching Upon the Independence of Judiciary - mentioned by Shri Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India.”

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Topics: conspiracy Justice Arun Mishra CJI Ranjan Gogoi

Published: 23 Apr 2019, 5:34 PM IST

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SC to Examine Lawyer’s Claim of ‘Conspiracy’ to Frame CJI Gogoi

Advocate Utsav Bains claims he was approached to take up sexual harassment allegations, but realised it was a plot.

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from news and law

Topics: conspiracy Justice Arun Mishra CJI Ranjan Gogoi