In a serious setback to the Mayawati Government, the Supreme Court today directed the CBI to interrogate ‘‘four to five’’ senior state officers mentioned in the agency’s secret interim report for their alleged complicity in the unauthorised construction of a massive multi-purpose complex right behind the Taj Mahal.While the names of the officers have been kept confidential, the court ordered the CBI to probe even their assets as the Uttar Pradesh Government is alleged to have released Rs 17 crore to start the Rs 175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor project.Underlining the need for ‘‘urgent action,’’ a bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice Ar Lakshmanan told the CBI to complete the probe ‘‘expeditiously’’ and submit its final report to the court by September 11.The agency has been directed to act immediately so that the ‘‘high and mighty’’ of the state do not have opportunity to ‘‘manoeuvre.’’ The bench referred to ‘‘this person who is wielding authority there.’’Whether the reference was to Mayawati isn’t known but the tenor of today’s proceedings is bad news for her as it threatens to derail a departmental inquiry she initiated barely two days ago against the suspended environment secretary, R K Sharma.As disclosed by the court, the CBI’s interim report has named ‘‘four to five’’ officers. If those suspects include the state chief secretary, D S Bagga, who has reportedly been blamed by Sharma for initiating the project, it will be hard for Mayawati to distance herself from the scam.As the interim report also brought out interpolation of documents, the court directed the director of Central Forensic Science Laboratory to do a handwriting analysis of the material.The court however declined the plea of the court commissioner, Krishan Mahajan, to suspend the officers pending the investigation. ‘‘How can they be suspended without a hearing?’’ the bench asked.In fact, the CBI is yet to register an FIR in the matter. Whatever investigation it has done so far is not the regular course of law but has been purely under the orders of the Supreme Court. Indications are that the court will direct the registration of the FIR only after it receives the CBI’s final report.Since there is no uncertainty about the fact that the project was undertaken without the necessary clearances, all that remains to be seen is who will named as accused in the FIR, if and when it is registered.Additional solicitor general Altaf Ahmad, representing the CBI, asked the court to grant four months for submitting the final report. The court however insisted that it should be in by September 11.
