Court tells CBI to keep off media

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Advising CBI joint director V.V. Lakshminarayana not to interact with the media, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday wondered why the Central Bureau of Investigation needed to make so many calls to the media. While dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking action against Mr Lakshminarayana for selectively leaking information to certain media personnel about the ongoing investigations into certain high-profile cases, acting Chief Justice P.C. Ghose questioned CBI counsel about the need for the investigating agency to make calls to the media.

Justice Ghose asked counsel whether the CBI manual permitted an investigation officer to interact with the media when a case was under investigation. When counsel replied in the negative, the judge enquired, “Then why are they (CBI officers) interacting with the media? Is it necessary for them?”

Mr Bhushan B. Bhavanam, a businessman from Guntur, had filed the plea seeking action against Mr Lakshminarayana, alleging that the CBI official had misled the court by informing it earlier that he had not talked to the media though his call data list had shown otherwise.