AHMEDABAD, SEPT 14: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday directed that the officer investigating into the multi-crore high-speed diesel (HSD) scam would not be restrained by any agency. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) superintendent of police (Gujarat) Rajneesh Rai is investigating into the fraud, which involves shady businessmen, officers of four major oil companies and the Sales Tax Department.The court also made an observation that it seemed that the investigating officer was not being given a free hand in his investigations.The direction was issued by a division bench comprising Justice B C Patel and Justice P B Majmudar, in a public interest litigation (PIL), filed by one Saurin R Shah, alleging that the CBI had arrested only two persons, so far, although it has found involvement of many more.The petitioner alleged that the CBI had not arrested all the people found to have been involved in the racket for `extraneous reasons'. Seeking the Court's direction to arrest them, the petitioner also sought direction to the CBI to produce a list of such persons.During the hearing, Bharat Nayak, counsel for the petitioner, sought to know why officers of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), involved in the scam, had not been arrested. At this, CBI counsel M R Shah submitted that the investigating officer had not received sanction for the arrests from CBI joint director, Mumbai.Shah said that though 105 persons were issued notices by the CBI to appear before the investigating officer, only 43 had reported, so far.Nayak submitted, ``It appears that the hands of the investigating agency are tied by some forces.'' There was sufficient material to arrest those found involved in the scam, Nayak said. He also submitted that if such persons were not arrested promptly, there was a possibility of their destroying the evidence.The CBI counsel further informed the Court that the Sales Tax Department had not provided necessary information sought. At this, the Court directed the Sales Tax Department to give all necessary assistance to the investigating agency. The CBI counsel said that even the IOCL was guilty of witholding information.This prompted the Court to observe that it had not been able to understand why the investigating agency had not dealt with the culprits in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc). The scam had dealt a heavy financial blow to the State exchequer, while the offenders had become rich, the Court noted. Referring to CBI reports, the court observed that an estimated Rs 150 crore was involved in the scam.The Court also noted that provisions of the CrPc empower the investigating officer to search premises of a concerned person, if there was a reasonable ground to do so. Also, the investigating officer can arrest a person if a cognisable offence appeared to have taken place, the Court noted.Taking a serious view of the fact that some elements had not cooperated with the CBI, the Court observed that the investigating officer could arrest such persons using his discretion. The discretion of the investigating agency cannot be controlled by any other agency, the Court observed. The Court directed the investigating officer to report to it within a fortnight.The scam relates to the supply of large quantities of subsidised diesel, meant for use as a raw material, to fictitious companies which, in turn, diverted it to the open market.
