The Central government told the Supreme Court during a hearing relating to the Nirav Modi-PNB fraud case that there cannot be any “parallel inquiry and monitoring” in addition to the ongoing investigations by CBI, Enforcement Directorate and other probe agencies.
Appearing for the Centre, attorney general KK Venugopal said people these days tend to approach courts using public interest litigations to seek court-monitored probes even before the government agencies complete their own investigations, and this practice needs to be stopped as it hampers justice.
Venugopal said courts must not entertain such petitions unless the petitioner can substantiate evidence of any wrong-doing on behalf of the government or probe agencies. He said such requests for parallel probes monitored by the court or by special teams tend to hamper the morale of investigation agencies, which should be strictly discouraged.
Upon suggestion by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that CBI could provide a status report of its investigations to the court in a sealed cover for the satisfaction of the petitioners, the attorney general strongly opposed the court and said agencies must first be allowed to complete their probes and then their findings can later be revealed at relevant stages.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by an advocate seeking a status report of investigations when this exchange between Venugopal and the bench occurred. This is not the only PIL that has been filed in this matter to seek similar reliefs. Petitioners in other cases have gone to the extent of asking the court to direct the government to even frame rules for regulating provisions for granting high-value loans to potential defaulters.