"I am thankful to Justice Gokhale (who was then Chief Justice of Madras High Court when the purported incident occurred)," Reghupathi said, without elaborating.
"I am not supposed to react. I did not make the issue public even at the time of the incident since I wanted to uphold the dignity of the legal fraternity. It applies to me today even after retirement," he told PTI.
He refused to join issue with former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, who had last week denied that Raja's name was in the report sent by the then Madras High Court Chief Justice Gokhale.
Gokhale today contradicted Balakrishnan's claim that he was not aware that it was Raja who had tried to influence Justice Reghupathi in a case and said he had clearly referred to Raja's name in his letter to Justice Balakrishnan.
Justice Reghupati said his action of not joining issue on the controversy was not driven by fear but the need to uphold the court's dignity.
He said only jurists can comment on the issue and not himself.
Published 14 December 2010, 10:43 IST