New Delhi, March 23 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the centre, the CBI and Essar on a PIL seeking a probe into the high-level political-bureaucrat-corporate nexus exposed in e-mail leaks wherein a corporate house allegedly granted favour to ministers and bureaucrats for promoting its business.

An apex court bench of Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice R. Banumathi issued notice on the plea by the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking an SIT or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the nexus wherein Essar allegedly gave gifts and other favours to promote its business interests.

The notice is returnable in six weeks.

Before issuing the notice, the court inquired from CPIL counsel Prashant Bhushan about the source of his information.

As Bhushan described the source as a whistleblower, the court asked him if he could disclose the source to the court in a sealed cover.

Bhushan told the court that the whistleblower, a former Essar employee, was already being threatened and the police had visited him without any reason.