Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Nov 20: In a sharp rebuke to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed strong displeasure over what it described as a “friendly and cool approach” adopted by the agency while probing alleged financial irregularities involving Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IHFL), now operating as Sammaan Capital Ltd.
A bench comprising CJI-designate Justice Surya Kant, and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh questioned the pace and seriousness of the investigation, particularly in light of concerns earlier flagged by SEBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding complex financial layers, loan round-tripping, and potential misuse of public funds.
The bench clarified that it was not commenting on the merits of the case against Sammaan Capital or its current management. The observation came after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi asserted that the present group had no allegations of financial wrongdoing.
However, the court remained firm on the need for deeper scrutiny.
“There is strong public interest in a threadbare probe into allegations creating genuine doubts about multi-layered transactions and suspected round-tripping of loan amounts. Even if a fraction of it is found to be prima facie true, an FIR must follow,” the bench said.
The court also questioned the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for closing complaints related to corporate governance violations.
“What is the ministry’s interest in shutting down these complaints?” the bench asked, reacting to submissions by advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the Citizens Whistleblower Forum.
Meanwhile, the ED submitted that it had forwarded the complaint to the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which closed the case citing lack of substance—prompting the Supreme Court to seek clarity.
The bench directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to assign a senior EOW officer to brief the court on the nature and scope of the investigation that led to the closure of complaints against IHFL.
In a significant move, the apex court also instructed the CBI Director to convene a joint meeting within two weeks with senior officials of ED, SFIO, and SEBI to outline the future course of investigation and examine the possibility of forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged irregularities involving IHFL, the Reliance ADAG group, the Chordia group, and the Rana Kapoor family.
The matter has been posted for further hearing after three weeks.
Later, issuing a clarification, senior advocate Rohatgi stated,
“The present petition does not contain any allegation against Sammaan Capital. The court’s concerns relate to the previous promoter, Sameer Gehlaut, who has no present shareholding or involvement in the company.”