New Delhi: A special court Wednesday said a "better investigation" was expected from CBI in a coal block allocation scam case as the agency has taken a contradictory stand in a closure report in the matter against Kolkata-based Vikash Metals and Power Limited and its officials.
The court's observation came after CBI's Superintendent of Police (SP) and its Investigating Officer (IO) in the case filed their replies to the show cause notices issued against them by the court yesterday.
After going through the response filed by IO, the court observed that in his reply, he has taken a stand contrary to the conclusions arrived at by him in the closure report on one of the aspects involved in the probe.
However, the IO as well as the SP informed the court that they had filed a closure report as they did not find suspicion beyond reasonable doubts to proceed by filing a charge sheet.
At this juncture, Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said "I also expect some better investigation especially from CBI, the prime investigating agency, in such sensitive case".
During the proceedings, CBI's prosecutor told the court that there was no malafide on the part of the IO in filing a closure report in the case.
However, after hearing the submissions, the court said it would pass a detailed order on the closure report as well as on the replies filed by both the officers on October 15.
"Reply to the show cause notice dated September 30, 2014 filed by both inspector Rajbeer Singh and SP Nirbhay Kumar. Heard. Perused. The reply shall be considered along with the order to be passed qua the closure report. Put up on October 15," the judge said.
The court had yesterday issued show cause notices to the SP and the IO over the way the probe was carried out in the case and asked CBI Director Ranjit Sinha and all concerned DIGs to personally look into the matter failing which they would be held "responsible".
The court had yesterday said that the agency's officers lacked "basic skills of investigation" and directed the SP and the IO of the case to explain the lacunae in their probe in the case.
The court had also observed that CBI was withholding documents from it for reasons best known to them and even the statements of witnesses, recorded during the probe into the case, were not placed before it.
It had said that the documents were produced before him only when the court asked for it.
It had also observed that CBI officers were not following the basics of the CrPC and their crime manual during investigation of the case and even after repeated directions by the court, they were not paying any heed to it.
CBI had, in September 2012, lodged an FIR against Vikash Metals and Power Limited and its officials, accusing them of making false claims related to land allocation to get undue advantage in the coal block allocation.
The FIR was registered against Vikash Metals and Power Limited, its directors, including Vimal Patni, Vikash Patni and Anand Patni and Anand Mallick who was the authorised signatory for the company.
They were booked for the alleged offences under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC.
CBI had earlier said that Vikash Metals and Power Limited wrongly claimed that it had been allocated 300 acre of land in Begusarai in Bihar by the Bihar Area Development Authority.
But the agency had found that the land was de-allocated and directors of the company failed to inform the screening committee members about it, it had said.
