CBI asked about progress of Aircel-Maxis case probe

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the CBI to inform about progress of its probe into the grant of approval to the 2006 Aircel-Maxis deal by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) under the regime of then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice S A Bobde told senior advocate K K Venugopal, representing the probe agency, to tell on October 16 about the progress in the case.

The court made the oral direction while adjourning the hearing of a plea by an NGO, the CPIL, which said CBI Director Ranjit Sinha should be kept out of 2G case investigation on the basis of the disclosure of visitors’ diary to his residence, purportedly showing his frequent meetings with the accused.

The matter was fixed on Friday for Special Public Prosecutor senior advocate Anand Grover to make his submission with regard to the NGO’s plea. As he sought time to file his note in the matter, the court deferred the hearing.

However, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, appearing in person, raised the issue of the CBI’s probe into the Aircel-Maxis deal.

He submitted that even though the charge sheet has been filed, there has been no information so far about the progress of probe.

He said there was suspicion about the role of then finance minister in the grant of approval to the deal.

Last month, the CBI had informed the 2G special court here that it would investigate the circumstances of the FIPB approval given under the regime of Chidambaram.