Essar Teleholdings Ltd. Vs. CBI
|
Head Note
The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Section 220 , Section 223 , Indian Penal Code,1860 - Section 420 , Section 120-B , Prevention of Corruption Act,1988 - Section 3 , Section 4 , Section 13 (1) , (2)
Joint Trial - 2G Scam Cases - Name of thale appellant was neither in the FIR nor in the first charge sheet nor in first supplementary charg sheet - In the second supplementary charge sheet their role was for offences u/s 120B and 420 IPC and not under the provisions of PC Act, 1988 - Prayer that send the second supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI should be sent to a Magistrate of the First Class to try the offences under Section 120B read with Section 420 of the Penal Code or that either there be a joint trial before Special Judge, in which case the entire proceeding has to start de novo repelled -Held that the Special Judge, vide the order dated 2.9.2013, has given cogent reasons for not exercising his discretion to order a joint trial - He stated that the evidence in the main case has almost reached the end and as many as 146 witnesses in the main case and 71 witnesses in the second supplementary chargesheet have already been examined - Clubbing the two cases together would result in the wastage of the effort already gone into and would lead to a failure of justice - Special Judge has been vested with the jurisdiction to undertake the trial of all cases in relation to all matters pertaining to the 2G Scam exclusively, which would include Penal Code offences by themselves, so long as they pertain to the 2G Scam -Offences arising out of the second supplementary chargesheet, being offences under the Penal Code relatable to the 2G scam, can be tried separately only by the Special Judge.
Topic(s)-Criminal Procedure - Joint Trial - Corruption