Madurai: Madras high court has lambasted the CBI saying the central agency has become notorious for lopsided probes and that its intentional lapses has led to erosion of public faith in the CBI.
Justice KK Ramakrishnan recommended that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director directly supervise investigations to ensure proper inclusion of accused in FIRs and final reports and to monitor the collection and omission of evidence.
He also urged the director to appoint a legal team within the agency to guide officers on legal principles and to prevent registration of innocuous cases.
The judge was hearing a batch of appeals filed by persons challenging their
conviction by the II additional district court for CBI cases in Madurai on Monday.
The prosecution said the chief manager of the Indian Overseas Bank Palayamkottai branch had misappropriated 2 crore by sanctioning loans to fictitious companies.
The CBI’s anti-corruption branch (ACB) registered a case against 13 people. In 2019, the trial court convicted eight people and acquitted five. The persons who were convicted had filed the present appeals.
Justice Ramakrishnan, citing lapses in every stage of the investigation, said, “this is a classical case to show the CBI had conducted a shoddy investigation.” He then acquitted all the appellants.