By Express News Service

Days after the Supreme Court sacked two employees for allegedly tampering with a judicial order seeking the personal appearance of Anil Ambani in a contempt case, two high court chief justices received calls from someone pretending to be Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, seeking the elevation of certain advocates as judges.

The matter came to light during routine talks between the CJI and the two judges. The CJI immediately ordered an internal inquiry. A formal complaint was also lodged with the Delhi Police. According to the complaint, the impersonator imitated the CJI’s voice and spoke to Telangana Chief Justice B Radhakrishnan and L Narayana Swamy, the acting chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, and asked them to recommend the names of certain advocates for elevation as judges of the high courts. The calls appeared to have originated from the SC’s board, but initial probe found they had been made from a mobile phone.

According to officials privy to the situation, the CJI has now issued an advisory to all Chief Justices and other judges of all high courts not to entertain any calls by his name or those that claim to have come from his office.

Gogoi is also learnt to have met officials from the telecommunication wing to understand as to how the calls were made using internal Supreme Court telephone lines from outside. An initial probe found that the calls may have come from a mobile phone.

Inside line

A preliminary probe has found the calls originated from the court’s private branch exchange system but had been made from a mobile phone