CBI is at liberty to probe DA case against Mayawati: SC

"We never said that CBI has no power to investigate. It can do so, but has to get sanction from the state government," the court said adding that its order was not to protect anyone.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and Dipak Misra sought the response of Mayawati and others and made it clear that it would only clarify its July 6 verdict, quashing the nine-year- old DA case against Mayawati, on a review petition filed in the case.

The bench agreed to do so after it was pleaded that the probe in the case has come to an end in the light of its verdict even though the CBI has got sufficient evidence against her.

"If that is the impression then we would clarify our order," the bench said.

The bench said that it had "scanned" and "surveyed" all the previous orders passed by the apex court and came to conclusion that there was no direction for the probe in this case and the FIR in DA case was quashed.

At the same time, the bench also mentioned that its order did not bar the agency from going ahead with the probe in the case after getting appropriate sanction.

"After surveying the orders passed by the court from time to time, we felt that there was no direction to conduct the investigation qua this aspect," the bench said.

In a relief Mayawati, the Supreme Court had on July 6 quashed the DA case against her and had pulled up the CBI for exceeding its jurisdiction by lodging an FIR against her without any direction from it.

The apex court had said the DA case against Mayawati was "unwarranted" and the agency proceeded against her without properly understanding its orders which were confined to Taj Corridor case relating to the release of Rs 17 crore by UP government allegedly without sanction. MORE