‘Can’t selectively take up probes’: Calcutta HC seeks CBI report on forgery case
Lawyer Debasish Saha said CBI stopped the probe earlier this year saying it does not have the West Bengal government’s consent to probe crimes
Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation cannot take up cases selectively, the Calcutta high court observed on Wednesday while hearing a petition by a nationalised bank seeking a probe by the federal agency into a forgery by a private company in 2022, lawyers present at the hearing said.
The bank had moved the CBI in 2022 in line with the Reserve Bank of India guidelines since the amount of money involved in the alleged crime was more than ₹6 crore. The bank told CBI that it suspected the involvement of some employees as well.
Representing the bank, lawyer Debasish Saha told the single bench of justice Tirthankar Ghosh on Wednesday that the CBI stopped the investigation earlier this year saying it does not have the West Bengal government’s consent to probe crimes in the state.
To be sure, the state government withdrew its general consent to CBI on November 16, 2018. This has been challenged by the Centre and the matter is being heard by the Supreme Court.
“While hearing the bank’s plea, justice Ghosh observed that CBI could not take up one investigation and refuse another. The judge ordered CBI to submit a report on its preliminary investigation into the forgery during the next hearing on January 21,” a state government lawyer said requesting anonymity.
“The court also sought a report on the current status of the hearing on the state government’s withdrawal of general consent to CBI. Justice Ghosh observed that if the alleged forgery also involves bank employees, then the state cannot have any objection,” the lawyer added.
The development at the high court took place a day after CBI told the Supreme Court that the Bengal government hadn’t granted sanction to the agency’s prosecution proceedings against the two prime accused in the August 9 rape and murder of a trainee doctor inside Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta who appeared for CBI told the top court that the Bengal government hadn’t given its sanction to prosecute Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of the medical college, and Abhijit Mondal, a police inspector.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the West Bengal government, however, insisted that the CBI had never approached the state seeking the required sanction.
CBI is currently probing the high-profile Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund cases, the Narada sting operation case, the school recruitment scam and the cattle and coal smuggling cases on court orders. More than 20 TMC leaders, ministers, MLAs and MPs are suspects in these cases.
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