SC warns CBI against eyewash in probe into builders, bankers | India News
New Delhi: Questioning the CBI for filing chargesheets against officials of financial institutions and builders for allegedly defrauding homebuyers without custodial interrogation, the Supreme Court on Wednesday told the agency that no one should be considered above the law and asked it to complete the probe within a specified time.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that all builders who stole the earnings of home buyers should be arrested to find out where the money went and should be recovered and returned. The bench also expressed displeasure over the slowness of the CBI’s investigation.“How can you file a chargesheet without a custodial interrogation? It will lead to an eyewash,” the bench said.In view of the increasing number of such cases across the country, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhatti submitted that some should be investigated by the state police. The SC rejected the plea saying that allowing a parallel investigation would lead to chaos. The court said, had the state police been competent, it would not have handed over the investigation to the CBI. The SC said that the CBI cannot walk out of the case and suffer the loss of lakhs of home buyers. “We reject the stand taken by the CBI,” the bench said, and allowed the agency to take the help of the state DGP’s staff and logistical support.“As of now we do not want to comment on the investigation taken up by the CBI but what we want to observe is that no one should be considered above the law and the investigation must be brought to a logical conclusion,” the bench said.The court asked the CBI to give a time frame within which the investigation would be completed as it could not go on indefinitely. It asked a competent official of the agency to file an affidavit. “This court cannot wait for an indefinite period for the completion of the investigation… Any delay will only cause more pain to the homebuyers who have already been harassed by builders and developers, apparently in connivance and connivance with financial institutions and banks,” it said.The court also clarified that aggrieved parties including home buyers, banks and builders should submit their claims, suggestions and recommendations to the amicus curiae, who would then examine them and place appropriate material before the court.It directed the CBI to scrutinize the report submitted by amicus curiae Rajiv Jain last year, particularly to identify areas of investigation.
