HC raps CBI for 'partiality' in probing Ghaziabad GPF scam

CBI has drawn flak from the Allahabad High Court for having been "partial in investigating" the multi-crore GPF scam in Ghaziabad district court and "favouring" a number of officials "probably under some pressures having been exerted from some higher ups".
"I am very much firm in my view that the CBI was partial in investigating the case and in submitting the final report and was definitely favouring the Drawing and Disbursing Officers and the Treasury Officers", Justice Dharnidhar Jha said in an order.
The court's observations on February 5 came while dismissing petitions filed by a number of former district judges of Ghaziabad, two of whom later retired as judges of the high court, besides some other accused scam who had challenged an order of the special CBI court in Ghaziabad against rejection of their plea for discharge in the case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from GPF accounts of Class IV employees.

Noting that "any person, who had paid any part of the withdrawn amount, was equally liable for committing not only the offences of forgery and misappropriation but also the offence under Section 120B IPC (criminal conspiracy)", the court criticised CBI for showing "undue magnanimity" towards the "Drawing and Disbursing Officers, the Treasury Officers and alike" as they had not been named by the agency in the charge sheet submitted before the trial court.
The court remarked that CBI appeared to have acted "probably under some pressures having been exerted on it from some higher ups".