File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The Supreme Court today reserved its order on suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma's plea to transfer four cases filed against him by the Gujarat government to CBI.
The lawyer of Mr Sharma, who has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ordering the police to illegally spy on a woman in Gujarat, said since the political dispensation in both Centre and the state is same, the probe against the officer could be biased.
However, the bench headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai barred Mr Sharma's counsel to raise the Snoopgate controversy and asked him to confine his arguments only to the point on how the probe done by state police against him is biased.
"We will only go by rule books. Which government comes and which government goes hardly makes a difference to us. But we are making it clear that we won't allow you to raise the issue as you had yourself agreed to delete those paragraphs from your petition (relating to Snoopgate)," the bench said, adding that the orders on Mr Sharma's petition will be passed tomorrow.
Mr Sharma's advocate submitted that his client is being targeted by the Gujarat government because his elder brother, a senior Gujarat cadre IPS officer, did not toe the line of state government in many cases.
Gujarat government, however, refuted these allegations and said Mr Sharma was himself under surveillance because of various alleged illegal financial transactions.
Mr Sharma is facing five criminal cases including his alleged involvement in land scam registered against him since 2008 in Rajkot area. He approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of cases against him to CBI.