New Delhi: A week after the Allahabad High Court's direction, Government has decided to handover the investigation into the Rs 30,000 crore stamp paper scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

This decision was taken after Finance Minister Jaswant Singh last night (November 21) referred the matter to the Home Ministry to get the scam investigated by the central agency. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the Finance Ministry to call for a CBI probe.

CBI has already indicated it was willing to take up the case if the Centre directed it to do so.

The decision came after Maharashtra Government had reportedly refused to entertain Home Secretary N Gopalaswamy's request to share findings of the state Government's Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the scam.

The CBI probe will be in all the states where the alleged kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi's network existed.

Congress Chief Ministers in Maharashtra and Karnataka had expressed reservations over a CBI probe into the scam.

However, Maharashtra Governor Mohammad Fazal during his consultations with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani recently had favoured a CBI probe as it allegedly involved top policemen of the state.

PTI