Just wondering ...

Whatever happened to the central bureau of Investigation’s probe into Tehelka’s expose on defence deals? Apparently, the agency has filed nine chargesheets in the case involving former Defence Minister George Fernandes, Jaya Jaitley and former Chief of Navy, Sushil Kumar.

The CBI says that it has been a year since the investigations got over and the cases are pending with the trial courts. Says Tarun Tejpal, Editor-in-Chief of Tehelka, whose reporters posed as representatives of a fictitious UK-based arms firm, keen on contracts: “We handed over all the evidence (read: video tapes) to the Venkataswami Commission in 2001.

Since then, CBI hasn’t approached us for any sort of information related to the case.” The expose, which resulted in the resignation of ruling BJP president Bangaru Laxman, was probed into by Justice S. N. Phukan in 2003. However, when the UPA came to power in 2004, it handed over the case to CBI. Don’t expect any development on this case, unless it proves politically useful to some future government.

—Manu Kaushik