SIT to scrutinise bank a/c details of people who met then CBI chief Ranjit Sinha

A special investigation team of the CBI on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it would scrutinise the bank account details of the people who had visited the official residence of its former chief Ranjit Sinha.

The then CBI director is facing the probe over his alleged attempt to scuttle the probe into coal scam cases.

The SIT, which filed a report giving a status of its investigation into the matter, told a three-judge bench presided over by Justice Madan B Lokur that "substantial progress" has been made in the investigation and its scope has been widened.

The bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri, monitoring the probe, told senior advocate R S Cheema, "You have given us 11 reports of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and 18 reports of the CBI. We must say, the progress in the investigation has been slow. Even today, when we see the 18th report of the CBI, it says one case is pending."

Cheema submitted that the CBI's team was trying to trace the number of vehicles which used to come to Sinha's official residence.

The top court had in January 2017, constituted the SIT headed by the CBI director to look into the prima facie allegations against Sinha of trying to influence the probe in coal scam cases.

During the hearing, Cheema told the bench that visitors at the former CBI chief's house were more than what was there in the visitors' diary maintained at his official residence and its probe was going on.

The court posted the matter for further consideration in March.

During the hearing, the Enforcement Directorate told the bench that provisional attachment orders have been issued in 13 cases amounting to Rs 600.7 crore.