Pimpri-Chinchwad to get CBI’s special anti corruption court

Two years after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) established its Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) at Akurdi,the the twin city of Pimpri-Chinchwad may soon get a special court for ACB cases. Pune will be one of the six cities in the state,besides Mumbai,Amravati and Nagpur,to have the CBI court. According to Vidya Kulkarni,Superintendent of Police CBI-ACB,Pune,they are looking for rented premises in Pimpri Chinchwad,preferably closer to the CBI-ACB office in Akurdi. “Our target is to start the court by month-end,” Kulkarni said. There will be one court to exclusively hear CBI cases. The court will dispose of cases within two years from the date of filing the chargesheet. “These exclusive courts are expected to hold day-to-day trials and avoid unnecessary adjournments. In order to ensure that trials are conducted expeditiously and judgments delivered quickly,we have decided to adhere to the norm of a maximum of 50 cases per court and not more than 50 cases per prosecuting officer. Further,we propose to create prosecution teams to assist all CBI prosecutors,” Ashwani Kumar,former director of CBI had said while announcing the CBI special courts in 2009. The CBI-ACB also has its jurisdiction in Aurangabad,Sangli,Satara,Kolhapur,Solapur,Beed,Ahmednagar,Osmanabad and Jalna. “There are more than 65 cases being investigated by the CBI yhat are pending trial in special courts. On an average,we register 12-15 cases every month,” a CBI official said. These cases are currently being heard by special judge S N Sardesai in the Shivajinagar court premises.