NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the CBI to file a status report of its probe into the 10-year-old UPA-era coal scam cases and Manipur extra-judicial killing cases, in which the court had in 2017 ordered the central agency to probe the incidents.
In the coal scam case, PIL petitioner’s counsel Prashant Bhushan said that though nearly 10 years have passed, the CBI is yet to conclude its probe into all UPA-era coal block allotment cases, in which coal blocks were allocated to private parties for exploitation allegedly without following any procedure resulting in huge loss to exchequer.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices J K Maheshwari and Hima Kohli asked additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, who was seeking permission for parent cadre repatriation of certain CBI officials engaged in the coal scam cases, as to why the investigations have not been completed even after a decade and directed the agency to file a status report by July 15.
In the Manipur extra-judicial killing case, Bhati was making a similar request for repatriation to the parent cadre of certain CBI officers, who are part of the CBI team probing the cases. Appearing for petitioner NGO, counsel Colin Gonsalves alleged that the CBI has not completed its probe into an overwhelming majority of cases, which happened during 2002-2012.
Bhati refuted the allegation and said that the CBI has completed investigations into 42 cases and filed prosecution complaints in 39 cases. Of the 39 cases, the concerned trial courts have asked the CBI to carry out further investigations in three cases. She said the CBI is awaiting prosecution sanction for filing chargesheet in two more cases. The CJI-led bench asked Bhati to file a probe status report.
On July 14, 2017, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit had directed the CBI to investigate the alleged extra-judicial killings by the armed forces and the Manipur Police in the insurgency-hit north-eastern state, which shared a border with Myanmar. The bench had asked the CBI director to appoint a team of officers to conduct the probe into the alleged killings.
During the hearing of the case, ‘murderers roaming free’ remark from Justice Lokur, now retired, had stirred a huge controversy. The Army had said that it would be wrong to label the cases as extra-judicial killings as these were casualties that happened during operations against militants. It had said that the local magistrates had probed the incidents of death during operations and given reports. (Times of India)
