BANGALORE, May 29: The Karnataka High Court today reprimanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the tardy progress in investigating into allegations against former railway minister C K Jaffer Sharief, regarding amassment of assets disproportionate to known sources of income.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice R P Sethi and Justice Mallikarjuna, besides expressing displeasure over the CBI's failure to complete the investigation, also directed the bureau to file a detailed report in a week, a day-prior to the hearing of the case adjourned to June 6.

The Chief Justice, continuing his ire over the CBI rushing to the press on the matter, remarked, ``The investigation should not be publicity oriented, but result oriented.''

The Chief Justice also pulled up the CBI for not filing its final investigation report though it registered the First Information Report (FIR) on January 13.

Justice Sethi rejected the CBI counsel's plea for four months time to complete the investigation. The investigation officer, Vijayaraj, was asked to explain the delay in the investigation.

When Vijayaraj said the CBI wanted to examine certain witnesses, the Chief Justice disagreed and observed, ``It is not a murder case but a case of acquiring property disproportionate to known sources of income by an individual. The properties existed. What more do you want?''.

Justice Sethi further observed, ``If the man is guilty you charge-sheet. If not, he should not be made to suffer.'' When Vijayaraj informed the court that the CBI had already filed three reports about its investigation, the Chief Justice said, ``We are not interested in progress reports, but we need a final report.''

At one stage, the Chief Justice said that had the case been referred to the Corps Of Detectives, the Karnataka Investigation Wing, it would have completed the investigation speedily.

Justice Sethi asked Vijayaraj whether the bureau required the help of any other agency to expedite the investigation and said if needed, the court would give the necessary direction.

The Chief Justice said the court was only monitoring the case and had not seen the progress reports submitted by the CBI. Both Somasekhara Reddy, who had filed the Public Interest Litigation and Jaffer Sharief, against whom the case was filed pleaded with the court to direct the CBI to complete its investigation expeditiously.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.