The Supreme Court expressed its displeasure over the slow pace of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation of the coal scam cases against former CBI Chief Ranjit Sinha.
“Progress in the investigations by the CBI and ED in the coal scam cases has been slow,” a special bench headed by Justice M B Lokur said.
The Supreme Court is overseeing the investigation by the CBI against former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha, who allegedly scuttled the investigation into the coal scam allegations.
The apex court had on 23 January 2017 ordered the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations of "abuse of authority" prima facie committed by Sinha to scuttle the probe in coal block allocation cases.
In response to the Court’s observation that the probe was going at a “slow pace”, the CBI's special investigation team (SIT) filed a status report in the Supreme Court stating that substantial progress had been made in the probe against Sinha.
The apex court-appointed special prosecutor, R S Cheema apprised the bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri, about the progress in the probe and the developments involving the CBI's former director.
Cheema said the SIT has widened the scope of probe against Sinha and the visitors at the former CBI chief's house were more than what was mentioned in the diary and its probe was going on.
He added that the SIT was trying to trace all vehicles which used to come regularly to Sinha's official residence, and that it would also examine the bank accounts of those who were regular visitors when he was the CBI chief.
The Supreme Court bench listed the next hearing in the matter for the second week of March to see further progress into the investigation, after being informed by the SIT that it would take six more months to complete the probe.
(We Indians have much to talk about these days. But what would you tell India if you had the chance? Pick up the phone and write or record your Letter To India. Don’t be silent, tell her how you feel. Mail us your letter at lettertoindia@thequint.com. We’ll make sure India gets your message.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)