The Bombay High Court was angered today (28 February 2012) when it heard that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had not begun its probe on the Adarsh Society money laundering case as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was investigating the matter. “Why are you depending on the CBI ? You are a separate agency and can conduct probe independently,” Justices P B Majmudar said.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by social activists Simpreet Singh and Pravin Wategaonkar, seeking the court’s intervention to supervise the probe and the ED to initiate an inquiry into money laundering offences of Adarsh Society.
The court directed that the ED director be personally present on 12 March 2012 to give a progress report on what actions have been taken and what steps are being contemplated on the enquiry.
The bench also raised concerns over the delay in the CBI probe which has been going on since January last year. “Why have you not finished the investigation till now? It is a matter where many big names are concerned. You (CBI) must be careful but at the same time you cannot let people question your credibility,” the court said.
Asking the CBI to file a status report on what progress has been in the probe on the next date of hearing, the court said, “If we are satisfied with the status report we will grant you more time to investigate. If it seems that you are inactive then a special team would have to be formed to probe the matter.”.
