Delhi High Court directs CBI to file status report in Rs 1,000 crore BSNL matter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today directed the CBI to positively file its status report by July 18 on the ongoing inquiry into allegations that BSNL officials caused a loss of about Rs 1,000 crore to the exchequer.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar allowed the CBI plea seeking time to file the report.

CBI counsel Sanjeev Bhandari submitted that the preliminary enquiry (PE) into the matter was at an advance stage.

To this, the bench said, "Let a status report be filed positively before the next date of hearing, i. e. July 18."

The court was hearing a plea by NGO Telecom Watchdog, which sought an investigation into allegations that BSNL officials caused loss of about Rs 1,000 crore to the exchequer by releasing unauthorised payment to the subsidiary of a Chinese firm by fabricating documents.

The BSNL has refuted the allegations.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, said it was a huge case of corruption involving Rs 1,000 crore.

The bench had earlier asked the probe agency to submit its status report by today.

It had earlier said it would not act as a "post office" for the CBI and directed the NGO to place evidence before the investigating agency on its application to submit additional information in the matter.

The NGO has alleged that officials of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) had connived with M/s ZTE Telecom India Pvt Ltd, a Chinese contractor, and forged official records of BSNL so that "undue payments" of about Rs 1,000 crore could be released to the firm.

The NGO has claimed that they had filed a complaint on the issue on March 11, 2016 before CBI but the agency has not taken any action.

The plea has sought a direction to CBI to investigate the complaint in a time-bound manner.

It alleged that official documents were fabricated to release payment of 95.10 per cent "illegitimately" to M/s ZTE.