In a shocking incident, two High Court judges have received fake calls in the impersonated voice of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi demanding elevation of some advocates as judges of the High Courts, reported The Telegraph.
The two judges who received the calls were Telangana High Court Chief Justice B. Radhakrishnan and the acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, L. Narayana Swamy.
The impostor, whose identity is yet to be established first called up Justice Swamy, claiming he was H.K. Juneja, the personal private secretary to Justice Gogoi. He claimed that he was acting on behalf of the CJI who wanted the names of certain advocates in Karnataka High Court to be recommended for elevation as judges in the High Court.
The caller, called Justice Swamy again after two days, introduced himself as Juneja and this time said CJI Gogoi wanted to speak to him on the recommendations.
The caller or someone else then imitated Justice Gogoi’s voice and spoke to Justice Swamy, iterating the request for elevating the advocates.
The impersonator repeated the same process with Justice B. Radhakrishnan.
The impersonation came to light during routine conversations between Justice Gogoi and the two High Court judges.
As per the report, the imposter hacked into the Supreme Court’s Electronic Private Branch Exchange (EPBX) System and made calls from a mobile phone.
A complaint has been lodged at the Tilak Marg police station. An internal probe has also been ordered by CJI Ranjan Gogoi. Further, the CJI has issued an advisory to Chief Justices and judges of High Courts not to entertain any calls either in his name or that of his office.
The incident occurred at a time the country’s highest court has sacked two court masters on suspicion that they tampered with a judicial order that required the personal appearance of industrialist Anil Ambani in a contempt case.
