'678 cases under investigation by CBI, 25 for more than 5 yrs'

New Delhi: As many as 678 cases were under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 25 of them for more than five years, as on December 31, 2019, a latest report by the Central Vigilance Commission has

said.

The CBI is normally required to complete investigation of a registered case within one year.

Completion of investigation would imply filing of charge sheets in courts wherever warranted, after receipt of sanction from the competent

authority.

The Commission has observed that there have been some delays in completing investigations in certain cases, the CVC's annual report for 2019 said.

The report was tabled in Parliament in the recently-concluded monsoon session and uploaded by the CVC on its website on Sunday.

The CVC said out of the total 678 cases under investigation, 268 were pending for less than one year, 177 for more than one year but less than two years, 122 for more than two years but less than three years, 86 for over three years but less than five years and 25 for over five years.

The CVC, which exercises superintendence over CBI probe in corruption cases, cited some of the reasons for the pendency including delay in investigation due to work overload , inadequacy of manpower and delay in obtaining responses to Letters Rogatory (LRs) among others.

It highlighted delay in receipt of prosecution sanction from competent authorities, etc. , delay in supply of departmental records by the concerned department , time taken in scrutiny of voluminous records, specially in economic offences and bank fraud cases and time spent in locating and examining witnesses living in distant places as the other reasons for the

pendency.

The Commission also expressed concerns about the slow progress of disposal of the large number of cases pending trial in different courts for long periods, at times for over twenty years.

Of the total 6,226 corruption cases pending trials, 182 were pending for more than 20 years, 1,599 for more than ten years and upto 20 years, 1,883 for over five years and upto ten years, 1,177 for over three years and upto five years and 1,385 for less than three years, as on December 31, 2019, the report said.