HC orders Centre to notify CBI probe into IMA scam

The High Court of Karnataka has ordered the Union government to issue a notification at the earliest handing over the probe into the multi-crore IMA scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Hearing a PIL petition on Wednesday, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Mohammad Nawaz asked the CBI counsel, Prasanna Kumar, whether the agency has started investigating the case. The counsel replied in the negative, saying the Union government has not yet issued a notification on the matter. The court then ordered the central government to issue the notification soon.

The court also sought a detailed report on the alleged seizure of a large number of gold biscuits belonging to IMA by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), as reported in the media. The matter is still being probed by the SIT as the CBI has not yet taken over.

During the hearing, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadagi submitted a compliance report as sought earlier by the court, explaining that the state government has appointed IAS officer Harsh Gupta as a full-time competent authority in the IMA case. The government is also acting on all the directions given by the court, he added.

G R Mohan, representing the PIL petitioners, appealed to the court to direct the government not to transfer the officer who was appointed as the competent authority in the case. The bench said the government must take permission from the court before transferring the officer.

The next hearing in on September 30.