CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as to why it is delaying the gutkha scam case hearing in the special court for MP/MLA cases.
Justice V Lakshminarayanan raised the query when a petition filed by former Commissioner of Greater Chennai Police (GCP) S George seeking copies of statements of certain witnesses in the case came up for hearing.
Referring to a report filed by the judge of the special court, as sought by the High Court during the previous hearing, the judge said the report has pointed to the delay caused by the CBI which is the prosecuting agency in the gutkha scam.
The special judge says he is willing to go for a day-to-day hearing but the CBI is not cooperating, Justice Lakshminarayanan said.
The judge had, in the last hearing, asked the special court to file a report as to how it is going to complete the trial in the sensational multi-crore gutkha scam case, in which former ministers and retired IPS officers have been accused, within three months.
The CBI had registered the case against 26 persons, including former AIADMK ministers C Vijayabaskar (currently with the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam), P V Ramana, retired IPS officers T K Rajendran and S George, along with state government and central government officers for allegedly accepting bribes from the manufacturers of gutkha to permit them to sell the banned tobacco products.
