New Delhi: The CBI probe into the allegations of kickbacks involved in Rs 16,000 crore Scorpene Submarine deal has made no headway with almost all evidence seeming to have vanished due to delay in handing over the investigation to the agency.

The CBI has to submit a report before the Delhi High Court by March 24 and the agency is still groping in the dark with no evidence coming its way.

The High Court on December 20 last year had asked the bureau to conduct a fresh preliminary enquiry into the allegations of kickbacks in the deal levelled in a Public Interest Litigation.

However, the CBI has been sending demi-official requests to various countries about certain bank details, telephone records and exchange of emails between a French company and its subsidiary in India.

Sources in the agency said none of the countries were giving any replies as the demi-official letters had no legal binding for them to do so. The CBI could not send a formal request as the agency would have to register a regular case for the same.

The agency, which has been receiving flak from the court over its shoddy investigations into the case, have now been calling some former naval officers and others associated with the case trying to understand the link between the Naval war room leak case and the Scorpene deal.
Source : PTI