New Delhi | Updated: October 16, 2014 09:26 AM IST
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Two days after it rejected the closure report in a coal block allocation case, the special court on Wednesday rejected the closure report filed by the CBI in a case related to allocation of coal block to Vikash Metal and Power Ltd (VMPL) in Raniganj, West Bengal – and has directed the agency to re-investigate the case.
Making a veiled reference to the CBI director over the coal allocation probe the judge observed, “The final reports are vetted by the prosecution branch of CBI and thereafter by the CBI Director… the vetting of the reports should not only confirm to the well settled principles of law but also to sound and legally sustainable reasons and logic.”
Miffed over the shoddy probe in the case, Special Judge Bharat Parashar asked the CBI Director and the DIGs — who are supervising probe in coal scam cases — to ensure proper training of the officers to “hone up” their skills for probing the case.
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The special CBI Judge rejecting the closure report in the case has directed the central agency to further investigate the case and a file progress report on the probe on November 10. “It is expected that the report of further investigation will be detailed and conclusive in nature duly supported with legally admissible reasons and not a report prepared as per the whims and fancies of the IO as has been done till now,” the judge said.
Ordering a further probe in the case, the judge said, “I am rather constrained to observe that investigation in the present matter has been carried out in a clandestine manner and the final report of the CBI rather appears to be the document purporting to be a plea of defence of the accused persons rather then the report of an investigation agency.”
The judge said, “The IO was either completely oblivious of the basic nuances of investigation or he deliberately chose not to investigate the case properly with a view to help the company VMPL and its directors or Ministry of Coal officers.”
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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