Today(on 3rd May),Supreme Court, led by Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta, refuses to stay on CBI’s investigation into alleged illegal mining linked to Hemant Soren’s associates.
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NEW DELHI: Today(on 3rd May), The Supreme Court opted not to stay the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) ongoing investigation into an alleged illegal mining scandal purportedly involving associates of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
The bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta, further directed the central agency to abstain from submitting any chargesheet or final report before the trial court temporarily.
The matter has been scheduled for further hearing in the third week of July.
The Court clearly stated-
“The investigation will continue without interruption, yet no chargesheets will be submitted temporarily, and no final report will be presented to the trial court during this period.”
Initially, the bench seemed inclined to dismiss the Jharkhand government’s plea outright.
During the proceedings, Justice Dutta referenced a similar case from 2021 where the Supreme Court refrained from interfering with the CBI investigation against Maharashtra’s former State Home Minister, Anil Deshmukh. Despite this, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Jharkhand government, urged the Court to issue notice and thoroughly review the matter.
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The state’s appeal was in reaction to a decision made by the Jharkhand High Court, which had dismissed its petition challenging the CBI’s investigation. This probe had been initiated following a directive from the High Court itself.
The state questioned the legality of the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the CBI. The state argued that the central agency hadn’t secured the necessary consent under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, thus deeming the investigation invalid.
“Without such consent, the CBI’s investigation is deemed unlawful.”
– stated the Jharkhand government.
Further complicating the issue, a single-judge from the High Court, on February 23, dismissed the state’s petition, clarifying that it would not override a co-ordinate bench’s directive which allowed the CBI to proceed according to the law.
Moreover, the Jharkhand government highlighted that the High Court’s decision was narrowly focused. It argued that the court had merely instructed the CBI to perform a preliminary investigation into why complainant Bijay Hansda had retracted his petition for a CBI probe into the illegal mining issue, instead of initiating a full-scale investigation into the alleged illegal activities themselves.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court: Hemant Soren Withdraws Plea Against HC Order
The appeal to the Supreme Court was filed through advocate Jayant Mohan, as the Jharkhand government seeks judicial review and relief from what it perceives as an overreach by the CBI, potentially influenced by inadequate judicial scrutiny at the High Court level.
CASE TITLE:
State of Jharkhand v. Central Bureau of Investigation and Another.
