Only in exceptional cases courts should call CBI: SC

The Supreme Court has reiterated the view that a CBI investigation should not be directed by courts in a routine manner or just because some allegations have been made against the local police, but only in exceptional cases.

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A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran gave the guideline while hearing a special leave petition filed by an accused against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court transferring investigation from the Haryana Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the instance of the complainant. The main ground taken by the complainant before the high court was that the police officials were acquainted with the appellant-accused, and those officers may also be involved in the present case.

The complainant, a pharmaceuticals businessman, alleged that the accused-appellant impersonated an Inspector General of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and threatened him to transfer Rs 1.49 crore into his account, apart from coercing him to do business with the accused's associates and friends.

"What is difficult for us to comprehend is that when the present FIR itself was filed on 22.10.2022 and the investigation itself was in its initial stage, then what was the burning hurry for the complainant to approach the High Court under Section 482 CrPC as early as January 2023 seeking an investigation by CBI instead of local police," the Justice Dhulia-led Bench said.