NEW DELHI: A total 1,025 cases — including 943 FIRs and 82 Preliminary Enquiries (PE) are pending with the Central Bureau of Investigation since periods ranging from three months to more than one year, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has revealed in its annual report for 2022-23.
“Other than the 1,025 cases, 23 Lokpal references were also pending by the end of the year. Out of the 943 regular cases, 447 were pending under investigation for more than one year. Similarly, out of 82 preliminary enquiries, 60 were pending under enquiry for more than three months,” the report revealed.
The report has also stated that in cases where the investigation has been completed, 10,732 cases were pending under trial in various courts by the end of the year.
The DoPT, in its report, also mentioned that during the year 2022, courts had delivered judgements in 557 CBI cases. “Out of these, 364 cases resulted in conviction, 111 in acquittal, 13 in discharge and 69 cases were disposed of for other reasons. The conviction rate was 74.59 per cent,” it said.
The CBI registers criminal cases on the basis of references received from government departments, statutory authorities like Central Vigilance Commission, constitutional courts and references received from states, as well as its own information. However, the CBI is not the first responder and has limited resources. So, due care is taken to ensure that only good cases are registered, officials said.
Probing on directions
The CBI registered 946 cases in 2022. “Out of these, 107 cases were taken up on the directions of the constitutional courts and 30 cases on the requests of states and Union Territories. Twenty eight references came from Lokpal,” the annual report of DoPT stated.