Court raps CBI over Coalgate ‘closure’ bid

NEW DELHI: A special court on Wednesday refused to accept CBI’s closure report in the case against a West Bengal-based company and its directors in a matter related to the coal block allocation scam. It further directed the agency to look into the role of coal ministry officers and members of 36th screening committee in allocating coal block to M/s Vikash Metals and Power Limited.

Calling the investigation “clandestine”, the court said it agreed with the special public prosecutor that material evidence had been ignored by CBI.

In its 23-page order, Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar said CBI’s final report in the case cannot be accepted as the “perfunctory nature of investigation” conducted by the investigating officer (IO) was apparently carried out with a pre-decided objective of filing a closure report.

The investigating agency was directed to file a report on the status of the probe by November 10. The court further directed a copy of its order be sent to CBI director Ranjit Sinha and the DIGs supervising the coal block allocation scam investigations.

During the hearing, Sinha also drew the court’s ire as the closure report being rejected for lacking “reason or logic” had been approved by him. On an earlier date, the judge had warned that the agency’s top brass would be held “responsible” for short-comings in the investigations.

“It is expected that… the legal officers of CBI and the senior officers of CBI, including the Director… vetting the reports should not only confirm to the well settled principles of law but also to sound and legally sustainable reasons and logic,” said the judge.

2G LAWYER FILES REPORT IN SC ON CBI CHIEF

NEW DELHI: Senior advocate Anand Grover on Wednesday filed his report on whether the Supreme Court could take up an application to stop CBI director Ranjit Sinha from supervising the 2G case and on the identity of the whistleblower who revealed frequent meetings between the accused in the coal scam and 2G case and the agency boss.