HC report didn't have Raja's name: Ex-CJI

Balakrishnan said he had gone by the letter of the chief justice of the Madras High Court , which did not mention any Union minister’s name.

Releasing the letter written by Justice H L Gokhale in 2009, who is now a Supreme Court judge, Balakrishnan said it did not hold enough grounds to prosecute Raja for allegedly trying to influence Madras HC judge Justice Raghupathi into giving bail to two of his friends through an advocate.

In para two of the letter, there was reference to a minister but the name was not in the forwarding letter, Balakrishnan said. The controversy was just an attempt to create a wedge between the high institutions of judiciary, he noted.

Justice Gokhale’s recent statement to press had suggested that Justice Balakrishnan, now the National Human Rights Commission chief, had not acted upon a report by him on Raja. Reacting to this, Justice Balakrishnan said: “I am certain that in the report received from the chief justice of Madras High Court, no name of the Union minister was mentioned, and that there was no case that any minister made telephonic talk with the judge.’’