SC to hear plea against Naresh Goyal

A Delhi-based journo approaches the SC challenging the order of the Bombay HC giving a clean chit to Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways on his alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim.

A Delhi-based journalist has approached the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Bombay High Court giving a clean chit to Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways on his alleged links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim after the central government denied the allegations.

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The petition would be heard on Friday as Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan refused to postpone it till Diwali, Nov 9.

When Advocate Ankur Gupta prayed for adjournment as Senior Advocate Harish Salve representing Jet Airways was not in India, the court said it was not the ground to postpone a case.

The high court recently dismissed the petition after the union home ministry and intelligence agencies, including RAW, gave a clean chit to Goyal on the question of alleged funding by the underworld don.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by M Furqan, editor of an Urdu daily, based on an alleged Intelligence Bureau report saying Goyal had close links with Dawood and had even received funds from him.

Similar allegations were also made in the past. Jet has always denied links with underworld groups.

The petition said the airline might be used for anti-national and anti-social activities if the illegal funding to it continued.

"The petitioner fears that the activities can go even to the extreme of explosion of flights in the model of the attack on the World Trade Center in the US."

With nearly one-third of India's booming domestic aviation market, Jet also flies to London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Colombo and Kathmandu.