New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea by alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar seeking a direction to shift him from Mandoli Jail in the national capital to any other prison except the jails in Delhi and Punjab.
The matter was heard by a bench comprising Justices Bela M. Trivedi and P.B. Varale. The bench noted that the apex court had earlier dismissed similar pleas filed by Chandrasekhar. "You have money to spend, you keep on taking chances. This is an abuse of the process of law. How can you keep filing the same petition?" asked the bench.
The bench observed that his grievance was against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, and, after the recently held Delhi polls there is a change in dispensation, the grievance does not survive.
Senior advocate Shoeb Alam, representing Chandrasekhar, contended that his client had a right under Article 21 of the Constitution not to be kept away from his family. The counsel urged the bench to send his client to any jail in Karnataka or near it.
The bench said it is worried about society and its safety also. "Your fundamental rights cannot be enforced at the cost of others. Look at the kind of allegations you levelled against the officers," said the bench.
After hearing submissions, the bench said it is not inclined to entertain the plea filed by Chandrashekhar and made it clear that it has not expressed opinion on the merits of the case.
"However, we cannot resist ourselves in expressing that the present petitioner has tried to misuse (the) process of law by filing writs one after another under the guise of changed circumstances," said the bench.
Chandrasekhar claimed he was put under surveillance with two cameras to pressure him to withdraw his complaints. His counsel had argued that Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena recommended a probe by the CBI against former minister Satyendra Jain on Chandrasekhar's complaint. Chandrasekhar accused Jain of extorting Rs 10 crore "protection money" from him aside from claiming that he contributed about Rs 50 crore to AAP.
