“For these reasons, forming an opinion in terms of Section 173(2) of Criminal Procedure Code (filing of charge sheet) on the basis of scrutiny of evidence collected in six completed RCs and preparation of final report would take some more time for submission before the appropriate trial court,” CBI had said in its plea before the apex court.
In its earlier status report before the Supreme Court, CBI had said inquiries in respect of 87 companies had been finalized besides probe in respect of 38 companies had been concluded.
It was stated that reports were in the process of scrutiny for getting final order from the competent authority.
CBI had informed the court that field inquiries pertaining to 149 out of 169 companies had been completed and similar probe pertaining to the remaining 20 companies, including ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) and coal to liquid (CTL), was in progress.
CBI had informed the court that inquires and investigation in other PEs and all RCs would be completed by April 30.
Given the dimension and spread of the scam, the court had ordered CBI and Enforcement Directorate to “share information with each other in respect of the matters having bearing on investigation of money laundering and foreign exchange and ensure that the investigation is not hampered in any manner whatsoever”.
According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), an estimated loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores was caused to the national exchequer in the coal block allocation scam.
