The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Delhi police to place before it the report of the medical officer of the Tihar Central Jail with regard to the condition of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha.

Purkayastha is incarcerated since October last year for alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.

A bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta passed the direction during a brief hearing while adjourning the matter to February 27.

The bench passed the order upon a request made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal on behalf of Purkayastha, as according to him he ought to be released on medical grounds too apart from his plea for regular bail.

“My Lords, the clock keeps ticking but this matter does not reach,” Sibal said while referring to the fact that the matter had been adjourned four to five times
because of paucity of the court’s time or non-availability of the lawyers.

However, Justice Gavai noted that Sibal himself had kept the court busy by arguing the DMRC-Reliance payment dispute till 2.30pm in the CJI’s court.