HC raps CBI for dragging its feet

The Bombay high court, on Wednesday, again pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its apathetic approach towards the investigation into the missing files related to scam-hit Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society.

The Bombay high court, on Wednesday, again pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its apathetic approach towards the investigation into the missing files related to scam-hit Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society.

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On Tuesday, the division bench of justice Ranjana Desai and justice Ranjit More had rapped the agency for not doing enough to investigate the missing file case.

On Wednesday, the judges were irked to find that though CBI seized 11 hard disk drives from the Urban Development Department (UDD) over a month ago, the disks were yet to be sent to Forensic Science Laboratory.

"Why are you taking this much of time; is there any reason for this delay?" the judges asked, seeking an explanation from CBI counsel DN Salvi. "One can understand delay on part of the forensic laboratory due to overburden of work, but there is no reason why the investigating officers haven't forwarded the hard disks to the laboratory," the judges said.

The judges had asked the CBI to get the results after Salvi clarified that the CBI had identified some of the missing pages, and the note sheets, which were prepared on certain computers. "You still haven't got the originals," the judges commented on the clarification, adding, "Something is wrong somewhere; that is why you haven't got the originals yet."