Heena Sharma Blog

The government on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court's intervention in the ongoing CBI row and said it will strengthen the investigation process and help the truth to come out "soon and without bias". "The Supreme Court direction to set a two-week time frame is a positive development and it would further strengthen the fairness criteria of the investigation. Appointment of a retired Supreme Court judge would ensure a fair inquiry," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here. His remarks come after the apex court a former judge, A.K. Patnaik, to supervise the inquiry into the allegations against Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Alok Verma while giving two weeks time to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete the probe. The court also asked the officiating Director M. Nageswara Rao not to take any policy or major decision. It directed that all decisions taken by Rao be submitted to the court in a sealed envelope by Novem

The CBI today carried out searches at around 40 locations in Tamil Nadu, including at the residences of state's health minister and the director general of police, in connection with the Gutka scam , officials said. They said the searches are spread across the state but did not reveal exact locations at this stage, saying it may hamper the ongoing operations. The residences of Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and DGPTK Rajendran, besides that of a former senior police official, among others are being searched, they said. The scam came to light on July 8, 2017, when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutka (a concoction of tobacco and pan masala) manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore. Read Full Article