Supreme Court lets Madhya Pradesh STF handle Vyapam Cases till CBI takes over

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted Madhya Pradesh special task force to handle the Vyapam scam cases at least till Friday, acting on a request from the Central Bureau of Investigation that is in the process of taking over the cases.

The CBI had urged a top court bench to allow the STF to deal with these cases and file charge sheets against 245 persons arrested as otherwise these accused would get bail with no one to oppose it. The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Justices Arun Kumar Mishra and Amitava Roy, allowed this after additional solicitor general Ranjit Kumar made the plea for the CBI.

Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal opposed the move, saying he would rather have the accused out on bail than let the STF file botched charge-sheets that will allow them to escape. "Once they file closure reports it is difficult," he said.

Kumar contested this saying, "Now you are happy having the accused released; earlier you were unhappy that no one had been arrested." Justice Dattu brushed aside Sibal’s opposition, saying the closure reports can be rejected by the court if wrongly filed.

Sibal then insisted that the court ask the agency to at least submit a progress report by Friday when the case will come up for further hearing. "Let the CBI tell the court how much time it will take to take over the cases. The CBI can’t take six months," he said.