The CBI will, on Thursday file a status report before the Supreme Court on the investigation and enquiries relating to the coal block allocation and the issue of missing files.
Apart from the progress in the probe into regular cases, the agency is likely to inform the court that it has received all the relevant files relating to the coal block allocations and may seek closure of the related Preliminary Enquiries, the sources said. Criminality on the part of Coal Ministry officials has not been established so far into the missing files issue. The agency had registered two PEs in September last year, one for the period between 1993 and 2005 and the other for the other one for 2006 to 2009.
The agency is also likely to inform the court about the cases in which the investigation is on the verge of completion. The report is also likely to list the cases in which criminality could not be established during investigation and may seek directions for further action.
During the course of enquiry into the untraceable documents, the agency received all the relevant files even as the sleuths examined the Coal Ministry babus responsible for handling the records. However, the probe prima facie does not indicate any deliberate intention on the part of the Coal Ministry officials in withholding the files from the CBI, the sources claimed.
During the last hearing before the court into the matter, the agency had said that probe was almost complete in six cases out of 14 FIRs. The tardy probe by the CBI into the coal block allocation scam had come under sharp criticism of the apex court which had remarked that the agency was still in the “first gear” and needed to pick up speed.
“You (CBI) have to pick up some speed. The pace of inquiry is not good. You are still driving in the first gear. Yours is a huge task and all these need to reach the logical conclusion,” a bench headed by Justice RM lodha had said during the last hearing.