SC Asks Subramanian Swamy To Show Instances Of CBI Inaction Against RBI Officials

The Supreme Court of India on 20 March, asked former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy to furnish an affidavit displaying specific incidences where the central agency had not taken action against independent directors regardless of the availability of material against them.

Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath, while hearing a petition filed by Dr Subramanian Swamy seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the role of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials in several banking scams, directed the petitioner to show instances for the Court to look into the role of CBI.

The Solicitor-General for India Tushar Mehta opposed Swamy’s stance that the Reserve Bank nominees were not proceeded against by the CBI enquiries that were carried out after the Kingfisher, Bank of Maharashtra, Yes Bank, and other scams even as other directors were investigated for their role. Mehta argued that a plea for a set of offenders to be investigated was unsustainable as agencies were looking into the broad cases.

In 2022, Swamy had said that not even a single person from the RBI was prosecuted since two decades despite several lapses on their part.

The petitioner argued that CBI should have investigated the specific role of the RBI officials and their non prosecution required the court to issue directions to initiate inquiries.