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10. It is further stated in the reply that the petitioner is guilty of hacking the e-mail account of the then AAG for which offence under section 66 of the IT Act has been registered. Petitioner was leaking information and interacting with media and other vested interest groups. He even attempted to use media card to influence judicial proceedings. The affidavit sent by the petitioner in SLP (Crl.) No.1088/2008 was not taken on record. This fact has been suppressed by the petitioner. He is acting at the behest of rival political party in the State of Gujarat. The State has made serious allegations against the petitioner and real motives to file the petition in this Court. It has placed on record e-mails sent/received by the petitioner which indicate that the petitioner has interacted with the Deputy leader of Assembly belonging to rival political party. He has tried to influence amicus curiae and the 3-member Bench of this Court by using media card and using pressure groups. He was receiving packages and materials from the leader of rival political party in Gujarat. He has referred to rival political party as his own party. While being cross- examined by the opposition parties before Justice Nanavati Commission, petitioner has send e-mail that the performance of the advocate of the rival political party was pathetic and mentioned that “I am under exploited”.

State Government has filed an affidavit in reply and has adopted the counter affidavit dated 8.11.2011 filed in W.P. (Crl.) No.135/2011.

27. Ms. Indira Jaising, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P. (Crl.) No.135/2011 submitted that considering the factual matrix of the case, investigation made in I-CR. No.149/2011 by the State Police cannot be relied upon as serious allegations made by the petitioner against the then Chief Minister with respect to the meeting dated 27.2.2002 require to be looked into. Petitioner was present in the said meeting and when he disclosed certain facts against the then Chief Minister the case has been filed by Mr. K.D. Panth at the instigation of certain officers of the State machinery. In the circumstances, investigation made by the State Police cannot be fair and impartial investigation and due to the changed scenario at the national level, even the CBI cannot be relied upon as pressure may also be exerted upon the CBI. Thus a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be formed to make an investigation under the supervision of this Court. The investigation is going to have wide ramifications as to what transpired in the meeting dated 27.2.2002, notwithstanding the fact that a chargesheet has been filed, this Court has ample power to direct investigation by an independent agency by forming a Special Investigation Team of different independent officers. Learned senior counsel has taken us through various documents on record including the e-mails to contend that there had been leakage of SIT reports, SIT itself has leaked the reports. She has also taken us through various exchange of e-mails between the then AAG, Mr. Gurumurthy Swaminathan etc. to contend that serious contempt of this Court has been committed by the machinery of the State of Gujarat which has acted in connivance with the accused persons. The then AAG has espoused the cause of the accused persons. Both the FIRs. have been lodged against the petitioner to pressurize him and recently he has been dismissed from service also. Learned senior counsel has also submitted that the amicus curiae appointed by this Court has observed in his report that certain aspects pointed out by the petitioner deserve to be looked into. It was also submitted that Mr. K.D. Panth, complainant, has been made to turn hostile against the petitioner. It was submitted that though the complainant was on leave on 27.2.2002, he joined duty due to the Godhra incident. He reported for duty in the late afternoon of 27.2.2002. Learned counsel has relied upon the affidavit of Mr. K.D. Panth, complainant, submitted to the amicus curiae. The case of the petitioner is akin to that of Zahira Sheikh. She was also made to turn hostile and was forced to depose falsely. Petitioner has been harassed with malicious prosecution as he disclosed about the meeting on 27.2.2002 and his conversation with the then Chief Minister of Gujarat. It was further submitted that the then AAG has not denied the contents of the e-mails exchanged by him. The then AAG had voluntarily given password to the petitioner and there was no question of hacking his e-mail account as petitioner had close relationship with him. She has relied upon e-mails A-3 to A-14 to show that they were jointly enjoying vacations. Petitioner himself had filed a complaint with the DIG (Police), Economic Offences Wing, Delhi Police, regarding hacking of his e-mail account. It was further submitted by learned senior counsel that the then AAG’s conduct as revealed through e-mails shows a criminal conspiracy between him and others in administration of justice which constitutes offence under the IPC and also amounts to contempt of court. Hence, it was submitted that criminal contempt stands substantiated by the fact that participants in the correspondence include law officers of the State of Gujarat, the advocates for the accused in certain cases and the Government of Gujarat and a complete outsider to litigation Mr. Gurumurthy Swaminathan was also consulted by the State of Gujarat. She has further submitted what was exchanged between the parties were confidential documents supposed to be submitted before this Court as well as the State of Gujarat in criminal cases and the documents to be filed on behalf of the State were being shared with individuals who had no connection with the ongoing legal proceedings. Even the documents to be filed on behalf of the accused were being prepared by the law officers of the State with assistance from senior officials of the State. Thus, a prima facie case of criminal contempt has been made out against the respondent sought to be impleaded by the petitioner. She has relied upon section 2(c)(iii) of the Contempt of Courts Act to contend that act which interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice amounts to criminal contempt for which action be initiated.

30. Mr. Ranjit Kumar, learned Solicitor General appearing for the State of Gujarat has submitted that considering the overall conduct of the petitioner, e-mail exchange of the petitioner with the political party in opposition, NGOs., media persons and others indicates that the petitioner has concocted the story as an afterthought and anyhow or somehow want to keep issue alive. SIT reports in 9 cases were made available to the State of Gujarat on 2.3.2009. They were forwarded by the counsel to the State of Gujarat on 6.3.2009. On 1.5.2009 this Court had passed an order disposing of the main matter. In National Human Rights Commission v. State of Gujarat & Ors. (2009) 6 SCC 767, this Court vacated the stay on commencement of the trial. It was submitted that SIT reports which were made available to the State of Gujarat, in none of these reports there was any substance of any investigation. Reports did not contain confidential materials. The reports mentioned the action taken by SIT for filing reports and/or for conducting investigation. Thus, it was not a secret information nor contained any sensitive information as has been tried to be projected by the petitioner. Investigation stage reports were part of court records. It was also submitted that the claim of the petitioner that he was present in the meeting dated 27.2.2002 is not only concocted, an afterthought and a flimsy one. The stand of the petitioner has already been looked into by the SIT. He has taken us through various orders and judgments passed by this Court in the case of Jakia Nasim Ahesan Jafri & Anr. v. State of Gujarat & Ors. (2011) 12 SCC 302 to contend that SIT has found the claim of the petitioner to be incorrect. It was further submitted by the counsel that the petitioner is trying to re-agitate the issue with the help of rival political party after the court-monitored investigation had come to fag end and even the allegations made by the petitioner had been looked into effectively. He has also contended that the petitioner has not come to Court with clean hands, as such he is not entitled to any indulgence. The e- mail exchange does not indicate any criminal conspiracy to subvert the course of justice or criminal contempt of this Court in any manner. Petitioner is guilty of hacking and tampering with the e-mail account of the then AAG. Petitioner has no right to choose investigating agency. The apprehensions raised by the petitioner are baseless. Mainly, there has to be a scientific investigation with respect to the hacking and tampering of e-mail account which can be effectively and fairly made by State agencies. Chargesheet in CR. No.149/2011 has also been filed. It is not shown by the petitioner how the investigation is tainted. The petitioner wants to widen the scope of the inquiry in the cases in question. The inquiry is limited in both the cases as to whether the petitioner is guilty of the alleged offences or not.

36. It is also relevant to mention certain e-mails which have been placed on record and relied upon by the respondents so as to contend that petition has not been filed bona fide. In the rejoinder filed by the petitioner, the e-mails which have been referred to in the return filed by the State of Gujarat have not been controverted or alleged to be incorrect in any manner by the petitioner. The petitioner has annexed full text of some of the e- mails along with rejoinder. However substance of the e-mails remains the same. Though the petitioner has also mentioned in the rejoinder affidavit that he has filed complaint with the DIG (Police), Economic Offences Wing, Delhi Police regarding unauthorized hacking of his e-mail account. It is not understandable a senior officer of Police like petitioner has filed complaint to Economic Offences Wing which is not at all concerned with offences like hacking of e-mails. To avoid embarrassment at large, we deem it appropriate to quote only some relevant portions of the e-mails of petitioner which have been heavily relied upon.