CBI can’t cherry pick cases, give excuses for not working: HC

Kolkata: Concerning a case where the CBI has allegedly not acted upon a complaint by the State Bank of India (SBI) citing lack of consent for probe from the Bengal government, Calcutta High Court observed that the Central probe agency cannot cherry pick cases and give such excuses for not working.

The bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh was hearing a matter where SBI had detected a fraud in 2022 in respect of credit facilities by a company. The bank had prayed for a CBI probe but the Central agency refused to probe the matter alleging that the Bengal government is not giving consent to CBI for the probe in the state.

During the hearing, the judge said that in a judgement passed by him in the Vinay Mishra case, it was stated that no permission is required from the state for the CBI to probe matters relating to central government undertakings.

The judge said the state will not have any interest in posing an obstacle to CBI to probe this case relating to SBI. “It’s a lame excuse by the CBI for not working,” he said. “There are several judgments where they are wanting to investigate the case.. and where they are not wanting they do not want to investigate… this cannot happen... You (CBI) are doing all cases and you say you require a permission from the home secretary for instituting a case. It’s a ploy for not doing a job,” the judge said.

The court directed the CBI to submit a report as to whether they have conducted any preliminary enquiry in respect of the letter of complaint submitted by bank authorities and inform the court.

“If I see from the preliminary report that they (CBI) have prepared it in such a manner that a bank officer is involved, who is the starting point, then I don’t think the state has got any business to interfere with,” the court said. Next hearing is on January 21, 2025.