Delhi High Court today pulled up CBI over its failure to find out who allegedly morphed a picture of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Najma Heptulla in a book published on the country's first education minister.
"Your (CBI) self-contained note itself states that the photo was morphed. Then also you are not able to find out who morphed it," Justice Rajiv Shakdher observed and said it was "not clear as to what action CBI has taken to investigate the issue of photo morphing".
The court said it was "not keen on the prosecution of any X, Y and Z but if there is prima facie finding that something wrong occured, then the agency should question the then publishers and the people concerned with the book."
It said the perusal of the CBI's "self-contained note leave unanswered questions" as to what steps were taken in respect of morphed photograph.
"The counsel for CBI is directed to produce the relevant records for perusal of this court before February 27, to show prima facie as to what steps were taken by CBI to enquire into the incident of the photo morphing before coming to the final conclusion...," the court said.
On the December 19, 2014, court direction, CBI today produced the note in a sealed cover for its perusal and after going through it, the judge rapped the agency's counsel for not bringing the investigation of the case to its logical conclusion.
The court said the note does not speak of the actions taken by CBI in the case.
The court had asked for the self-contained note after CBI had in its earlier reply stated that the allegation against Union minister Heptulla could not be "substantiated" due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Azad's grandnephew Firoz Bakht Ahmed, who had alleged that the morphing was done at the instance of Heptulla when she was heading the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
