Explainer: Lawyer Utsav Bains says conspiracy against CJI, here’s what his claims are

Hours after the sexual harassment charges against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi were published, a Facebook post went viral. Lawyer Utsav Bains claimed in a long post that the charges against the senior most judge of the Supreme Court were a ‘conspiracy’ and that he was ‘offered a bribe’ to frame the CJI. On Monday, the Supreme Court appointed Justice (Retd) AK Patnaik to inquire into the allegations raised by Utsav Bains. The CBI Director and IB Chief have been directed to cooperate with Justice AK Patnaik, and the retired judge has been asked to submit his report in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court.

Here’s what lawyer Utsav Bains has claimed:

• Bains has said in his affidavit that he was approached by a man named Ajay who said that his relative, a former Supreme Court assistant, was sexually harassed by the CJI. Bains claimed that he was offered Rs 50 lakhs, which was later hiked to Rs 1.5 crore, to “help frame the CJI in the sexual harassment case" and hold a press conference "only at the Press Club of India.”
• In his affidavit, Bains had said that after he was approached, he grew suspicious and made certain enquiries “with reliable sources in Delhi”. Bains has alleged that former Jet Airways owner Naresh Goyal had tried to bribe the CJI through a person named Romesh Sharma, an alleged ‘fixer’, who was introduced to Goyal by Dawood Ibrahim. 
• Bains wrote in his affidavit that a reliable person on the condition of anonymity told him that a “corporate figure" tried to approach a Supreme Court judge to get a "favourable order" in a high profile case listed before that judge, but was unsuccessful. He also claimed that the said 'corporate figure' attempted to get the case transferred from the court of that judge but did not succeed and thus "ganged up with an alleged fixer by the name of Romesh Sharma and his aides to frame the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India in a false case of sexual harassment.”
• He added that the source also told him that Romesh Sharma ganged up with disgruntled employees and former employees of the Supreme Court who actively conspired to frame the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India in the sexual harassment complaint. 
• Bains wrote in his Facebook post that he was also discouraged from going public with his claims by “some senior well wishers” and claimed that “a lobby of judges who is planning this conspiracy” will turn against him and try to ‘harm him professionally”.
• When reports of the allegations broke on Saturday, a three-judge bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Rohinton Nariman and Deepak Gupta took suo motu cognisance of the allegations and said that they will be hearing Utsav Bains’s allegations as well. A notice was issued to him to appear in court on Tuesday and Bains filed an affidavit, detailing his allegations, in a sealed cover before the Supreme Court.
• On Thursday, Bains submitted a sealed cover to the Supreme Court apparently containing ‘specific information’ on how this was planned along with details of the ‘disgruntled employees’ of the Supreme Court, who are involved in the alleged plot against the CJI.