By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi Bar Council Saturday issued show cause notices to defence Lawyer R.K. Anand and former public prosecutor I.U. Khan after a sting operation carried out by a news channel showed both of them working in collusion.
Anand is the counsel for Sanjeev Nanda, the main accused in the controversial BMW hit-and-run case. He and senior advocate I.U. Khan, now dropped as special public prosecutor, were shown in a video clipping on NDTV news channel as allegedly trying to influence Sunil Kulkarni, a witness in the case.
Both have been asked to appear either in person or through their lawyers July 20.
The first meeting of the three-member committee looking into the BMW case was held Saturday followed by the Delhi Bar Council meeting later in the evening.
"After examining the matter, we found out there was prima facie a case for issuing show cause notices," said K.K. Manan, bar council president.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, who is hearing the case ordered an inquiry after the NDTV expose asking the channel to produce all the original unedited footage.
The Delhi High Court has also taken note of the matter and so, in accordance with judicial propriety, the sessions judge has closed the inquiry.
Anand had earlier alleged that the channel had put its reputation at stake by relying on Kulkarni, whose character and intentions have been doubted by the court, media, police and NDTV itself.
But a NDTV spokesperson said the content of the story including the scripting, presentation and the angles of discussion had been the channel's editorial decision and not Kulkarni's.
He also said Anand's allegation that NDTV had transferred the powers of journalism to Kulkarni was baseless.