New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said for a second time that it cannot order a probe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly receiving payments from the Sahara and the Aditya Birla groups without sufficient evidence.

“You cannot cast aspersions against the prime minister’s office without enough evidence," a bench comprising justices J.S. Khehar and Arun Mishra said.

The court had previously refused to order a probe on 25 November.

However, on lawyer Prashant Bhushan’s insistence, the court granted time till 16 December to place on record additional material for consideration. Common Cause, a non-profit organization led by Bhushan had moved the apex court seeking a probe by a court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the allegations.

The allegations were made on the basis of material purportedly seized during searches by the income tax department of the offices from the two companies in 2013. Modi was then chief minister of Gujarat.

Sahara has filed a defamation case in a Patna court against Mint’s editor and some reporters over the newspaper’s coverage of the company’s dispute with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Mint is contesting the case

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