CAN’T MONITOR PNB fraud probe, says SC

The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear that it cannot monitor the ongoing probe into the over Rs 11,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case and said it would first decide whether a PIL seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into the scam was maintainable or not.

The Centre, on its part, sought dismissal of the PIL from the top court by submitting that agencies such as the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and Income Tax (IT) department were conducting the probe independently.

“We cannot monitor. They (Centre) say that so many steps have been taken,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said. “We will hear the petition on maintainability first,” the bench said when JH Dhanda, counsel for PIL petitioner Vineet Dhanda, sought issuance of notice to the Centre and others.

Dhanda claimed that accused like billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi had committed fraud and fled and “the whole country was watching that the government had not done anything” in the past in a similar case relating to Vijay Mallya.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the Centre, said agencies have been carrying out probe “independently” and taking steps like conducting raids and confiscating properties of accused and there was no need for judicial intervention.