Bombay High Court directs completion of probe against Kripashankar Singh

The Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department and the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau have been directed by the Bombay High Court to complete the inquiry against Mumbai Congress chief and MLA Kripashankar Singh in an alleged disproportionate assets case of within four weeks.

Justices Mohit Shah and SJ Vajifdar, comprising a division bench, also directed the agencies to share information with each other. The directives were passed yesterday during the hearing of a PIL filed by one Sanjay Tiwari on allegations that Singh had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

"The inquiry is going on since June last year. They can share information with each other. ACB has limited powers and in such a case, ED and I-T department can help out," chief justice Shah remarked.

The PIL which was filed last year also alleges that Singh was close to Madhu Koda, former chief minister of Jharkhand, who is in jail currently over his alleged involvement in a multi-crore hawala scam. There have been several money transactions between the two, the PIL alleges.

However, additional solicitor general (ASG) Darius Khambata, counsel for the ED, said that no link between Singh and Koda had been found.

"It is not necessary that he (Singh) should have committed all criminal activities along with Koda,'' chief justice Shah remarked.