HC pulls up ‘unprepared’ CBI, asks for all documents

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to come better prepared and bring all the documents pertaining to the case of the staged encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. This comes after the central agency failed to furnish certain documents before the court. A single-judge bench of Justice Revati MohiteDere was irked with the CBI as it failed to submit documents, which the court had sought from the agency, a day earlier.

Surprisingly, every time the court sought pertinent documents like the chargesheet, seized letters related to the case, the CBI counsel maintained they did not have the papers and have to bring it from the agency’s office.

Irked by this, Justice Dere said, “This is not the way a prime agency is expected to work. You have to ensure all documents pertaining to the case are kept handy whenever this court wants to peruse them.”

“It is surprising you do not even have the entire chargesheet with you except some documents containing the statements of few witnesses. You just cannot tell the court you do not have the documents with you. It is your duty to ensure they are with you during the proceedings,” Justice Dere added.

This is the second consecutive day Justice Dere has pulled up the agency for showing a casual approach in assisting the court.