<p>The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider a PIL seeking a probe by a special investigation team into allegations of kickbacks of ¤6 million to some journalists here in the AgustaWestland scam.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Arun Mishra asked senior advocate Geeta Luthra to ensure serving of the copy of the petition filed by Hari Jaisingh, a journalist, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), for their response in the matter.<br /><br />The court noted since it was already hearing a separate PIL by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan and T S Singhdeo for a probe into financial irregularities in the purchase of VVIP helicopters by some state governments, it did not prefer to issue any notice to the probe agencies.<br /><br />Arguing for the petitioner, senior counsel Luthra submitted that the ongoing investigation into the scam must include the role of journalists here as it has been said that ¤6 million (approximately Rs 50 crore) was paid to them as an effort to manage the press.<br /><br />“All those journalists who received money are liable for money laundering,” she contended.<br />The court, which did not issue any formal notice to the CBI or the ED, however, agreed to await their response.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider a PIL seeking a probe by a special investigation team into allegations of kickbacks of ¤6 million to some journalists here in the AgustaWestland scam.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Arun Mishra asked senior advocate Geeta Luthra to ensure serving of the copy of the petition filed by Hari Jaisingh, a journalist, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), for their response in the matter.<br /><br />The court noted since it was already hearing a separate PIL by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan and T S Singhdeo for a probe into financial irregularities in the purchase of VVIP helicopters by some state governments, it did not prefer to issue any notice to the probe agencies.<br /><br />Arguing for the petitioner, senior counsel Luthra submitted that the ongoing investigation into the scam must include the role of journalists here as it has been said that ¤6 million (approximately Rs 50 crore) was paid to them as an effort to manage the press.<br /><br />“All those journalists who received money are liable for money laundering,” she contended.<br />The court, which did not issue any formal notice to the CBI or the ED, however, agreed to await their response.</p>
