"No material here": Delhi High Court on plea for CBI probe into electoral bonds-linked corruption

The Delhi High Court recently expressed a lack of interest in hearing a petition seeking directions for a court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the instances of corruption by way of donations made through electoral bonds to various political parties [Sudip Narayan Tamankar v. Central Bureau Of Investigation & Anr]..A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela allowed the CBI to seek instructions, but observed,“This is an absolutely roving and fishing enquiry. There is no material here.".The Court rejected a request on behalf of the petitioner to issue notice or direct the CBI to file its affidavit.“You only connected all the donors to their income tax cases. Where is this coming from? We are not going to ask them to file an affidavit. We don’t even think this is a bona fide petition,” the Court stated.The CBI counsel made a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition and sought time to seek instructions.The next date of hearing in this matter is January 8..After the Supreme Court struck down the electoral bonds scheme earlier this year, the petitioner had filed a complaint with the CBI in April this year on the basis of publicly available information of corruption through the scheme.However, CBI has not taken any steps to investigate into the corruption or bribery angle behind the donations by the companies, the petition states. A similar petition had been filed by the petitioner before the Supreme Court, which was dismissed with liberty to file an appropriate petition if there is “a refusal to investigate or a closure report has been filed.”.“After the disclosure of the electoral bond information, it came to light that various donations would need thorough investigation as the same prima facie indicate corruption and bribery and other offences," the petition states. It claims that data shows that companies under regulatory scrutiny from agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or Income Tax (IT) Department have made substantial contributions to ruling parties through electoral bonds.It is further stated in the petition that the evidence indicates quid pro quo arrangements among political entities, corporations, government officials investigative and regulatory bodies.