New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday closed the contempt case against advocate Prashant Bhushan in 2009 in connection with an interview to Tehelka magazine, where he claimed several previous chief justices of India were corrupt.

A bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee, Surya Kant, and M.M. Sundresh closed the contempt proceedings against Bhushan and also against then editor of Tehelka Tarun Tejpal, after he expressed apology.

Advocate Kamini Jaiswal, representing Bhushan, submitted that he has given an explanation for his statement. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Tarun Tejpal, the editor of Tehelka Magazine, submitted that he has apologised.

After hearing submissions, the bench said in view of explanation/apologies made by the contemnors, "we don't deem it necessary to continue matter". The bench dropped the contempt proceedings against Bhushan and Tejpal.

The 2009 matter was revived in 2020 when it was scheduled for hearing along with contempt proceedings initiated against Bhushan over some tweets. Bhushan claimed in the interview that half of the last 16 chief justices were corrupt.

Bhushan, in response to 2009 contempt case, had told the top court that mere utterance of corruption charge could not be contempt of court.