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Journalism of Courage
Clearing the decks for CBI to interrogate stamp paper scamster Abdul Karim Telgi, the Supreme Court today ordered that investigations into all 48 related cases be turned over to the agency.
The court said the states from which these 48 cases will be transferred to the CBI shall extend all cooperation to the agency for further probe. It directed the CBI to file a status report within four months and ruled that no high court in the country will entertain any petition on these 48 cases. Of the cases to be transferred to CBI, 23 are from Maharashtra, 10 from Karnataka, three each from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, two each from Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh and one each from Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal.
Seizure of fake stamp papers, suspected involvement of inter-state gangs headed by Telgi and national security were the three major parameters taken into account by the CBI in identifying the 48 cases which it sought to investigate.
The court acceded to the agency’s request that the state police should give ‘‘CBI complete access to all the material collected by them during investigations.’’
Keeping in view the nature of field investigation required in the cases and its own resource constraints, the CBI sought to share resources of the states, including manpower, vehicles, camp offices and office equipment. The court allowed this request.
The CBI stated that in view of the enormity and magnitude of the task involved, it would be required to form more than one special investigation cell.
Reacting to the court decision, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil said that it was on expected lines: ‘‘Maharashtra governor has been demanding a CBI probe, the Centre had also demanded the same and Union Home Minister L K Advani had even alleged involvement of subversive forces in the stamp paper scam, making it all the more imperative to hand over these cases to CBI.’’
Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde also welcomed the Supreme Court decision, saying the state machinery would accord all necessary cooperation to the CBI in its investigation.
To a query on whether the Special Investigation Team would be disbanded after the court verdict, Shinde said he was yet to go through the entire verdict.
Meanwhile, the SIT is in a bit of a fix on summoning Sameer Bhujbal for the fourth questioning session since the CBI has been asked to take over the probe. ‘‘We had planned to summon Sameer on Wednesday or some day this week, but we may have to think on it now,’’ SIT sources told PTI. The SIT has already begun winding up its business and hand over the cases to CBI as early as possible.
