Refusing to make any comments, the Supreme Court on Monday left it to the Central Bureau of Investigation to proceed as per law on the issue of registering an FIR into the alleged seizure of unaccounted cash worth Rs. 25 crore, a diary and other incriminating documents from Aditya Birla Group’s Corporate Office here in 2013.
A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Sikri, hearing a plea by NGO Common Cause to register an FIR in the case, said the CBI is expected to act as per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The court was reacting to arguments made by advocate Prashant Bhushan for the NGO that the CBI was under a legal obligation to register an FIR. He claimed the documents allegedly seized indicated payments to politicians and political groups.
When the CBI pleaded that the Enforcement Directorate was already looking into the aspect of seizure, Mr. Bhushan countered that the ED investigate any links to possible money laundering unless an FIR is lodged by the CBI or other agency.
“An FIR is already registered in the Hindalco matter and that is why the ED was doing the inquiry,” senior advocate Amarendra Sharan for the CBI responded.
“Our understanding is that CBI has filed a report in the Supreme Court today in respect of the seized papers. In this regard, the Honourable Court has observed that ‘we are not making any comment as to whether any offence is made out or not.’ CBI is expected ‘to examine the papers and if any offence is made out or not, it is to proceed in accordance with law’,” Aditya Birla Group reacted in a statement.
The court further expressed unhappiness over the pace of probe conducted by the CBI into the coal block allocation scam cases and asked the agency to conclude these investigations by December-end.
Published - October 13, 2015 01:58 am IST
