The Central Bureau of Investigation has 18 days to file charge sheets in the coal scam, after the Supreme Court turned down the agency’s request to delay the exercise by four more weeks.
The Supreme Court (SC), which is monitoring the coal scam investigation, issued the direction after noting that on February 10 the agency had informed the court that it was done with the probe and ready with the charge sheet. On Monday the CBI filed the first charge sheet in the case.
The bench of Justices RM lodha, Madan lokur and Kurian Joseph directed the CBI to file all five remaining charge sheets by March 28. Senior advocate Amarendra Saran, who appeared for the CBI, prayed for additional time for some fine-tuning to accommodate legal advices received in the matter.
Petitioner CPIl represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged that the agency was buying time because of the upcoming elections and considerations of politicians. The bench told the CBI: “There is a limit to which you (CBI) can stretch the time limit. The investigation has to be taken to its logical conclusion.” Bhushan said he was aware of several instances where the attempt of Investigating Officers to charge political and corporate bigwigs was shot down by higher-ups in the CBI.
On this, the bench told the CBI that it expected the final report of the investigations by March 28. “We have given you whatever you needed. Ultimately, the process has to be concluded. Then why delay it,” the bench said.
Meanwhile, the Centre through the Income-Tax Department moved an application in the SC seeking investigation details relating to search and seizure by the CBI of Hindalco assets. The request, relating to the high-profile coal block allotment to Aditya Birla Group, which is under the CBI scanner, attracted the attention of the court. Though initially, the bench was reluctant to grant the request, ASG Paras Kuhad who appeared for the department said that some of the material collected by CBI was relevant for its investigation.
The I-T Department said it had seized unaccounted cash amounting to Rs25-crore during the raid conducted on October 16 last year. Bhushan pointed out that a diary seized during the raid that contained sensitive information about pay-offs made to the Government had not been brought on record. The bench issued notice on the application, posting it for hearing on March 28.