Urea scam: Court rejects CBI closure report filed after 22 yrs
New Delhi, April 3
A Delhi court has rejected the CBI’s closure report in a urea scam case and asked the agency to probe the 22-year delay to ensure that such “miscarriage of justice” does not happen again.
“It is not the CBI’s case that any investigation was going on in the matter after 1999 up to 2021… One fails to understand as to why the same (final report) was being withheld and what purpose the withholding must have been serving,” Special Judge Surinder S Rathi said.
Noting that the last investigation into the case was conducted by the CBI in 1999, the court said it was evident that the agency sat on the report which was “legally unacceptable”.
“This is obviously a cause of concern to this court and also should be a cause of concern for the head of investigating agency — Director, CBI,” he said.
The court asked the CBI Director to look into the matter and take necessary action as also steps to ensure that such “miscarriage of justice” did not happen again.
It also ordered the joint director of CBI’s anti-corruption unit 1 to inquire into the matter and submit a report. (PTI inputs)
Case filed in 1996
- The CBI had registered the urea scam case on May 19, 1996, on allegations the accused cheated National Fertiliser Limited of Rs133 crore
- In the main case, several NFL officials, businessmen and former PM PNarsimha Rao’s nephew B Sanjeeva Rao were convicted
