File status report in Ranjit Sinha's case, Supreme Court to SIT

New Delhi: The special investigation team (SIT), set up to probe the allegations of abuse of authority prima facie committed by former CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to scuttle the coal scam probe, was today directed by the Supreme Court to submit a status report before it.

The apex court asked the SIT to furnish the status report in a sealed cover within four weeks of the probe conducted in the matter.

"A status report about the investigation conducted by the SIT concerning Ranjit Sinha, former Director of CBI, be filed in a sealed cover," a three-judge bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said.

The bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri, said this after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause, argued that several months have gone by since the SIT was formed and it should be asked to submit a report on its investigation.

The top court had on January 23 constituted the SIT headed by the CBI director to look into the prima facie allegations against the former CBI chief of trying to influence the probe in coal scam cases.

During the hearing on Monday, senior advocate R S Cheema, who has been appointed as special public prosecutor in coal scam cases by the apex court, told the bench that eight CBI cases relating to the scam were pending consideration before the "highest authority" of the agency.

To this, Bhushan said, "why should these cases be kept pending before the highest authority? These are politically sensitive cases".

The bench, however, directed the CBI Director to finalise these eight pending cases on or before January 15, 2018.