‘Investigation is to uncover truth, not just incriminate’: CBI pulled up in excise case

New Delhi: In a series of scathing observations on the probe into the excise policy case, the special CBI court has criticised the manner in which the federal agency had appreciated evidence, particularly its classification of several documents as "unrelied".Special judge Jitendra Singh said on Friday that before segregating documents into relied and unrelied categories, investigators should undertake a "comprehensive and objective examination" of all material collected. He noted that the court had, on more than one occasion, found documents related to the investigation, including those recovered from the accused, placed among unrelied records despite their potential relevance.Citing one such instance, the court noted that the prosecution had placed total reliance on Raghav Magunta's statements regarding the alleged money demands and facilitation, but had not placed any independent evidentiary support to fortify the claim. "When material favourable to the accused is collected by the state and, thereafter, kept outside the court's consideration at the stage of charge, the fairness of the process is inevitably brought into question," it held.The judge underscored that the court was confined to material placed by the prosecution, and as the accused could not rely on his own documents or summon those marked unrelied at the stage of charge, "any document of apparent probative value — especially one capable of assisting the accused — ought not to be excluded without recorded reasons".Singh cautioned that the reasons for not relying on a particular document must be clearly recorded to ensure accountability to the fundamental objective of criminal law, "effort to uncover the truth". Emphasising that investigation is not about "gathering only incriminating material; it is an effort to uncover the truth", the judge underscored that the guarantee of a fair trial under Article 21 of the Constitution extended to every stage of the criminal process, including investigation and the manner in which material is presented before the court.Singh gave clean chit to former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others on Friday.