The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not been able to start probe in more than ₹21,000 crore worth bank fraud cases in want of consent by five non-BJP ruled States including Maharashtra, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh in the last three years, the Rajya Sabha was informed on March 24.
“Out of the total 128 requests, involving bank frauds of ₹21,074.43 crore, a highest of 101 requests were pending with Maharashtra (involving amount of₹20,312.53 crore) during 2019 to 2022 (up to February 28, 2022),” it said.
Twelve such requests were pending with Punjab (involving ₹298.94 crore), eight were pending with Chhattisgarh (₹157.26 crore), six with West Bengal (₹293.64 crore) and one with Rajasthan (₹12.06 crore), according to a written reply by Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh.
“Nine States — Mizoram, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand, Punjab and Meghalaya — have withdrawn general consent to the CBI to investigate cases,” he said.
“A total of 173 requests were pending with seven of these States for CBI probe including a highest of 132 by Maharashtra, 16 by Punjab, eight by Chhattisgarh, seven by Jharkhand, six by West Bengal and two each with Kerala and Rajasthan,” according to the reply.
It said that 101 permissions were granted to the CBI to probe cases by these nine States during 2019 and 2022 (up to February 28, 2022). It included 52 permissions granted by Maharashtra, 27 by Punjab, nine by Rajasthan, eight by Jharkhand, four by Kerala and one by Chhattisgarh, the reply said.
