SC pulls up CBI for acquittal every third case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said nearly a third of cases probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation ended in acquittal of accused because of the huge number of witnesses cited by the probe agency to bolster its charge.
“You (the CBI) lose most of these cases because your list of witnesses is too long and when there are too many witnesses, there will be contradictions,” said a bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma during the hearing of CBI’s plea for extension of time for completion of trial in the Rs 7,000-crore Satyam fraud case.
While denying bail to key accused in the case, the apex court had asked the prosecution to expedite the trial and fixed a deadline of July 31.
It had also told the accused that if the trial did not get completed by July 31, they could move fresh bail petitions.
CBI, which is investigating the 2G spectrum scam, the Commonwealth Games scam and Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, has a strike rate of 64-71% in cases where the accused get convicted. It claims that the conviction rate of 64-71% is comparable with the best investigation agencies in the world. In the Satyam scam, the CBI said it had cited 666 witnesses but had pruned the list to 226 for examination before the trial court. The bench complimented the agency for being able to examine 226 witnesses in a short span of time.