New Delhi: The CBI today strongly refuted in the Supreme Court the claim made in a news report that a letter was written to its Director by one of the officers, probing the coal scam cases, that some matters have been opened and closed in lieu of extraneous considerations.
“No IO (Investigating Officer) has given any such application,” senior advocate Amrendra Sharan, appearing for CBI, told the bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri. The submission from the probe agency came after advocate M L Sharma, who had filed PIL in the coal scam, referred to a news report that a CBI officer had written to the Director alleging that probes in as many as 20 cases have been botched by some IOs on receiving money.
He also said that the court should seek the copy of the alleged letter. Meanwhile, the bench asked the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to file “updated” reports, indicating the progress made by them in coal scam cases and adjourned the hearing till May 11 at the request of Saran, the counsel for CBI.
“A Sharan has handed over a Note on Administrative Issues filed on May 4, 2016 and a Bird’s eye view of investigation (from Jan 1 to April 30, 2016) filed by the Directorate of Enforcement and Progress Report No 16 filed by the CBI on May 4. List the writ petition along with the aforesaid reports and earlier sealed reports filed in this matter on May 11 at 2.00 pm,” the bench said.
During brief hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO ‘Common Cause’, said the CBI should consider providing records of some cases as asked by the M L Sharma panel.
The apex court-appointed panel is investigating alleged scuttling of probe into coal block allocation scam cases by then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha whose meetings with accused persons have been held as “completely inappropriate”.
The court has sought the assistance of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on May 11 when it will again take up the matter. Earlier, the court had received an initial report of the Sharma panel and given that to the Attorney General for his perusal on condition of maintaining its confidentiality.
