Case's fate may be sealed on Feb 1

CHANDIGARH: Come February 1, it seems the fate of the cash-in-bag case will be sealed when it will come up for hearing before a special CBI court, Chandigarh, on the basis of the stand taken by complainant Amrik Singh, whose lawyer is Rajdeep Singh Cheema.While a battery of defence counsel are anxiously waiting for the complainant to clear his stand on CBI’s final report seeking closure of the case, the complainant’s advocate, on the other hand, didn’t spill the beans about it. “We have received a certified copy of the final report and are analyzing it. But the final picture on our reply will emerge only after a week,” Cheema while talking to TOI said.Senior standingcounsel Anupam Gupta, who had argued on Chandigarh police’s behalf, said,“It is not over yet. There can be no finality to the legal and moral issuethat this case involves. The question of judicial accountability is much largerthan the narrow confines of the trial procedure. But there is a need to detailthe issues involved, including the denial of sanction and adequacy of theevidence beyond the walls of the court. The imperative of truth must outweighall other limitations.Meanwhile, it was learnt that a few groups oflawyers were contemplating whether to intervene in this issue or not in the wakeof the CBI’s final report.The defence too is hoping that thecomplainant doesn’t press for a re-probe. If he raises objection to themove to close the case then it will be treated as a fresh complaint underSection 197 of the CrPC. “This can lead to problems for otheraccused,” said one of the defence counsel on the condition ofanonymity.The special CBI court had issued a notice to thecomplainant after going through the final report. It was in response to thisnotice that Cheema appeared on Amrik’s behalf on the last hearing datei.e. January 11, and asked for a copy of the closure report. After allowing hisapplication seeking a certified copy, the court fixed February 1 for a hearingof the case.