Poachgate: High Court tells CBI to await hearing of case

Hyderabad: In a crucial development, the Telangana High Court on Friday told the CBI that it could wait for the court to complete its hearing into the state government’s appeal challenging the handing over of the poachgate probe to the agency before it proceeded with the investigation.

The court’s observation gained significance amidst reports that CBI director Subhodh Kumar Jaiswal had issued orders directing the Delhi unit of the apex investigating agency to initiate the probe. CBI counsel also conveyed the agency’s readiness to start the investigation following the single judge orders.

During the course of hearing the appeals filed by the state government and SIT challenging the transfer of the probe to the CBI, Gade Praveen Kumar, deputy solicitor general of India, representing the CBI, informed the division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji that it had addressed a letter to the Telangana state Chief Secretary seeking the material in the poachgate case for the commencement of its investigation.

 He said the Telangana state government had so far not responded to its communication. Chief Justice Bhuyan asked Praveen Kumar to wait as the writ appeals filed by Telangana state challenging the orders of the single judge directing the CBI to investigate the case was pending and had to be adjudicated.

B.S. Prasad, Advocate General, immediately informed the Chief Justice court that the CBI was insisting upon the Chief Secretary to hand over the files, and sought a direction to pass an order restraining the Central agency from taking over the investigation till the writ appeals are adjudicated. The court asked the CBI to wait because as of now the writ appeals were under adjudication.

Meanwhile, CBI arrived in the city from Delhi. It was stated to be keeping a close watch on the developments of the case. Sources said the Delhi team had convened a meeting with the Hyderabad unit officials to obtain finer details.

Sources said that the agency was all set to commence the probe by registering cases and was awaiting the High Court directions.