The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that there should not be a court-monitored investigation into the Punjab National Bank scam because a parallel inquiry would affect the investigators’ morale, News 18 reported.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into the case.
When Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra asked why the government could not submit a status report on the investigation in a sealed cover, Attorney General KK Venugopal replied: “There is no justification...unless we have done some mistakes, your lordship cannot intervene...it will have huge public impact.”
The Punjab National Bank has said it was defrauded of Rs Rs 13,645 crore. The main accused, billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi, left the country in early January, just weeks before the scam was made public.
Venugopal on Friday told the three-judge bench that he opposed pleas calling for court-monitored investigations “on the ground of principle”. Such public interest litigation petitions should not be entertained if the petitioner fails to show that the investigators have committed a mistake, the government counsel added.
Advocate JP Dhanda, who is representing petitioner Vineet Dhanda, claimed that his client’s plea had not asked for the court to monitor the investigation, Live Law reported. After he alleged that Venugopal had read the wrong case brief at a previous hearing, an angry Justice AM Khanwilkar told Dhanda to not presume that the attorney general had not read the case brief. “You should have only said these are not my prayers,” Justice Khanwilkar said.
Advocate ML Sharma has also filed a public interest litigation in this case. The next hearing is scheduled for April 9.
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