NHRM scam: HC asks CBI to present case diary on May 28

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday directed the CBI to furnish on May 28 the case diary related to scam in implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Lucknow and the murders of two chief medical officers, Dr VK Arya and Dr BP Singh.
A division bench also directed the CBI investigating officer in-charge of the case to remain present in the court on next hearing.Earlier, on May 1, the court had directed the CBI to produce the case dairy on May 7 (Monday) to assess the progress of the probe. On Monday, the case was taken up by the court and after hearing the CBI counsel Bireshwar Nath, posted the matter for May 28.
Monday's directive came as a relief for the CBI. On March 15, the court had given the CBI two months time to complete the probe. The deadline will expire on May 15. Now, the CBI has got 13 more days. A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Pradeep Kant had in July 2011 handed over the case to the CBI following petition expressing doubts over the fairness of the state police as people involved in the scam were said to be politically influential. Since then, the CBI has sought extension of deadline four times.
Each time, on CBI's request, the court granted extension of around two months. Thus the CBI has taken nearly eight months so far while initially it had been directed to crack the case in three months. Taking CBI's request for more time seriously, the bench headed by Justice Pradeep Kant had on January 13, 2012, had made its intention clear by communicating to the agency that the court expected it to complete the probe soon.