683 graft cases under CBI probe: CVC report
New Delhi: A total of 683 corruption cases were under investigation by the CBI, 30 of them for more than five years, as on December 31, 2020, a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report released on Tuesday said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is normally required to complete probe 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 report said.
The reasons for delay cited by the CVC report included "due to the COVID-19 pandemic", "due to work overload", "inadequacy of manpower", "delay in obtaining responses to Letters Rogatory (LRs)" and "verification of documents/title deeds, etc., in disproportionate asset cases".
The CVC's annual report 2020 was tabled in Parliament during the recently-concluded Monsoon Session and uploaded on the its website on Tuesday. It said out of the total 683 corruption cases under investigation, 30 were pending for over five years, 92 for over three years but less than five years, 76 for more than two years but less than three years, 155 for over one year but less than two years and 330 were pending for less than one year.
The probity watchdog also expressed concerns about the slow progress of disposal of a large number of corruption cases pending trial in different courts for long periods, at times for over 20 years.
Of the total 6,497 corruption cases pending trial, 212 were pending for over 20 years, 1,782 for more than 10 years and up to 20 years, 2,168 for more than five years and up to 10 years, 1,031 for over three years and up to five years and 1,304 for less than three years, as on December 31, 2020, it said. "Such inordinate delays in investigation defeat the very purpose of efficient vigilance administration and are an impediment to the fight against corruption.
The commission has been emphasising that effective measures are required to be taken to increase the disposal of pending PC (Prevention of Corruption) Act cases under trial/appeals/revisions in order to effectively combat corruption," the report said.
