New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on the basis of the interim report of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the Taj Heritage Corridor project, on August 21 said four to five important persons were involved in the scam and directed the CBI to interrogate them forthwith.

Rejecting the CBI plea seeking four months time to complete the probe, a Bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice AR Lakshmanan, directed CBI to submit the final investigation report by September 11.

The Bench refused to make public the contents of the interim CBI report, but indicated that four to five important persons, including "the person who is wielding the authority there", are named in the report and are allegedly involved in the scam.

The court in its order said, "On the basis of the report, we direct a higher official of CBI to immediately interrogate four to five or more persons who are involved in the decision making process to grant contract for the construction of the Taj Heritage Corridor project."

The Bench said it would be open to the investigating officer not only to interrogate the "four to five" persons, but also to verify their assets because it was alleged that Rs 17 crore was released for the project without proper sanction.

Wanting immediate action, the court directed CBI to act forthwith without giving opportunity to these persons named in the report to manoeuvre.

The Bench said in the inquiry report the CBI stated that some papers were "interpolated" by someone.

To detect the interpolation, the Bench directed that the papers be forwarded to Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) immediately for opinion.

The Bench said CFSL will give its opinion immediately without taking the plea that similar matters are pending before it.

The Bench directed CBI to report after completing investigation on or before September 11 and posted the matter to September 11. PTI