Supreme Court accepts CBI's apology for registering FIR 'by mistake' despite stay order

The Supreme Court recently accepted an apology tendered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for inadvertently flouting an order staying further proceedings by it into allegations that a man impersonated an Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer to extort money [Vinay Aggarwal v. The State of Haryana & Ors.]..The stay order was passed in June 2024. However, the CBI filed a first information report (FIR) in the said case in July 2024, leading an accused person to move a contempt of court petition against the central agency.CBI officer Navdeep Singh Brar (IPS), who heads a Special Crime Branch, later appeared before a Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran and submitted that the FIR was registered by mistake as the CBI was not aware of the Court's stay order. He added that once the CBI got to know of the stay order, it took all remedial steps to correct the error, including the return of all case files to the local police. The top court accepted this apology and closed the contempt proceedings against the CBI. "We accept the unconditional apology of Dr. Navdeep Singh Brar and do not wish to proceed any further in the contempt petition," the Court said. .In the same order, the Court also cautioned against routine transfers of criminal cases to the CBI.It reiterated that CBI investigation should not be directed merely because bald allegations have been made against the local police. Courts should direct CBI investigations only in exceptional cases, it said. "The High Courts should direct for CBI investigation only in cases where material prima facie discloses something calling for an investigation by CBI and it should not be done in a routine manner or on the basis of some vague allegations. The 'ifs' and 'buts' without any definite conclusion are not sufficient to put an agency like CBI into motion," the April 2 judgment further reads. .The top court made the observation while setting aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court's decision to transfer a 2022 case to the CBI at a preliminary stage.The case arose from a criminal case registered in Panchkula in October 2022, in which a businessman (complainant) alleged that he had been duped of ₹1.49 crore by another businessman (accused) who posed as an IB officer. The complainant added that the accused man was seen in the company of Haryana police officers. The complainant also raised concerns that police officers may be involved in the alleged crime. He, therefore, filed a petition before the High Court to order a CBI investigation into the matter.In 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed the complainant's plea to transfer the case to the CBI.This High Court order was challenged before the Supreme Court through an appeal filed by the main accused. .In its April 2 ruling, the top court questioned the "tearing hurry" with which the complainant moved the High Court for a CBI probe. It concluded that the High Court should not have allowed this request at such an early stage of the investigation. "The High Court was perhaps moved by the assertions made by the complainant that local police officers who will do the investigation are of lesser ranks and that the matter involves some high ranking officials and thus, local police will not be able to investigate the matter properly. However, these allegations are vague," the Supreme Court found..The Court proceeded to dispose of the appeal by setting aside the High Court's order, thereby restoring the probe back to the Haryana police. .The appellant was represented by Senior Advocate Shoeb Alam, and Advocates Parul Shukla, Shubhangi Pandey, Saday Mondol, Naveen Kumar, Stuti Bisht, Nitesh Bhandari, Prabhat Kumar Rai, Aditya Goyal, Ujjawal Kumar Rai, Esha Kumar, Nidhi Singh, and Utkarsh Chandra. The respondents were represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Advocate General Alok Sangwan, and Advocates Samar Vijay Singh, Sumit Kumar Sharma, Rajat Sangwan, Sabarni Som, Shikhar Narwal, Aman Dev Sharma, Amit Ojha, Keshav Mittal, Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Shreya Jain, Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Navin Kumar, Rajat Nair, Aanchal Jain, and Karan Dewan..[Read Judgement]