The CBI on Wednesday denied a news report that a CBI official probing one of the coal scam cases wrote a letter to its director that the probe in some cases was botched by certain investigating officers for extraneous considerations.
Senior advocate Amrendra Sharan, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation, told a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Sikri that no IO (investigating officer) had written any such letter.
The probe agency made its submissions after lawyer M.L. Sharma, who had filed a public interest litigation in the coal block allocation scam, referred to the news report and said that the court should seek a copy of the alleged letter.
Meanwhile, the bench asked the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to file "updated" reports on the progress made in coal scam cases and adjourned the hearing to 2 p.m. on May 11 on the Saran's request.
The bench said that the CBI counsel had provided a note on administrative issues along with a bird's eyeview of investigation (from January 1 to April 30, 2016) filed by the ED and a progress report number 16 filed by the CBI.
During the hearing, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO 'Common Cause', said that the CBI should consider providing records of some cases, as asked by the M.L. Sharma panel.
The apex court-appointed panel is investigating alleged scuttling of the probe into coal block allocation scam cases by the then CBI director Ranjit Sinha whose meetings with accused persons have been held as "completely inappropriate".
The court sought the assistance of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on May 11, when it will again take up the matter.
Earlier, the apex court received an initial report of the Sharma panel and gave the same to the attorney general for his perusal on the condition of maintaining its confidentiality.
--IANS
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