SC concerned over pendency of requests sent by CBI to eight states for probing cases
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court Monday said it is "not a desirable position" that requests sent by the CBI to eight states, including West Bengal and Maharashtra, during the period from 2018 to June this year for grant of specific consent for investigation of matters there is pending in 78 per cent cases.
The apex court said it is "concerned" with two aspects which emerged from the affidavit filed by the CBI Director -- the first one about the pendency of requests made by the CBI to the eight states and the other is about stay orders granted by the appellate courts in cases probed by the agency.
A bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh referred to the affidavit filed by the CBI Director in pursuance to the top court's earlier direction asking to apprise it about the steps to be taken to strengthen their prosecution unit, the bottlenecks, and also about conviction rate in matters probed by the agency.
These issues had cropped up after the apex court had noted that CBI's appeal against the Jammu and Kashmir High Court order of 2018 was filed after a delay of 542 days.
While hearing the matter on Monday, the bench noted that one of the bottlenecks pointed out in the affidavit is that CBI has sent over 150 requests to the governments of Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Kerala, and Mizoram during the period 2018 to June 2021 for grant of specific consent for investigation of cases in the territory of these states.
It said that as per the affidavit, these eight states have withdrawn the general consent previously granted to Delhi Special Police Establishment (CBI) under section 6 of the DSPE Act.
The bench noted that these requests are stated to be made for investigating trap cases, disproportionate assets cases, matters relating to allegations of cheating, forgery, misappropriation, and also bank fraud cases.
Requests in 78 per cent cases are stated to be pending which mainly pertain to bank frauds of high magnitude impacting the economy of the country, the top court noted.
This is certainly not a desirable position, the bench said.
The apex court said that the other aspect is the stay orders granted by the appellate courts which affect the pace of trial in the cases.
The bench, which observed that both these issues are needed to be addressed, said this aspect be placed before the Chief Justice of India for consideration and appropriate direction.
The apex court condoned the delay of 542 days in filing the appeal against the high court order subject to a deposit of Rs 25,000 cost within four weeks.
It said that inquiry be conducted to ascertain as to who was responsible for the delay and the cost be recovered from the officer responsible for this.
In an affidavit filed before the top court, the CBI director has said that the agency has achieved the conviction rate of about 65-70 per cent, and would try to raise it to 75 per cent by August 2022.
It said that CBI has secured the conviction of the accused in 69.83 per cent and 69.19 per cent of the cases in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
The effort of CBI is to undertake a quick (preferably less than 30 days) intra-departmental decision as to whether to file an appeal/revision or not in a given prosecution case so that the requirement of condonation of delay is ruled out, the affidavit said.
It said that presently, eight states namely West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram have withdrawn the general consent previously granted under section 6 of the DSPE Act.
"Now, taking specific consent again on a case-to-case basis is time-consuming and at times may be detrimental to timely and prompt investigation. It is noteworthy to mention that CBI has sent over 150 requests to the Governments of Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Kerala, and Mizoram during the period 2018 to June 2021 for grant of specific consent for investigation of cases in the territory of these States, the affidavit said.
"The aforesaid requests were made for investigating trap cases, disproportionate assets cases, cases relating to allegations of cheating, forgery, misappropriation, and loss of foreign exchange and also bank fraud cases," it said.
The apex court had earlier asked the CBI director to inform it about the steps taken or proposed to be taken to address the inadequacies in manpower, infrastructure facility, and the quality of investigation.
The top court's direction came while hearing an appeal by CBI challenging the high court order passed in a case of allegedly fabricating/creating false evidence by pressuring, inducing, and threatening the eye-witnesses to make false depositions implicating police/security personnel in the commission of offences of rape and murder of the two women in Shopian.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
