By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday refused to suspend a Delhi High Court order halting criminal proceedings against finance and investment firm CRB Capital Markets for allegedly duping 135,000 small investors and many financial institutions of Rs.12 billion in the 1990s.
A bench of Justice Ashok Bhan dismissed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea to reserve the high court ruling on the grounds that the agency had delayed in filing the appeal against the ruling.
The CBI, which had launched a probe into allegations against the firm, contended before the apex court that the Delhi High Court had no jurisdiction to annul the charge sheet filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, before the Mumbai special judge.
The agency contended that the high court had not only stayed the criminal proceedings, but had also approved the revival scheme of CRB Capital Markets in January this year.
The CBI had registered a slew of cases against CRB chairman Chain Roop Bhansali, State Bank of India officials and others for duping the Bank of Baroda of Rs.34.3 million and State Bank of India of Rs.570 million in 1997.