During a Supreme Court hearing on Friday, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, questioned the legality of the CBI investigation, citing the agency’s failure to obtain prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act before initiating the probe.
Sibal argued that the sanction for prosecution, mandated after the 2018 amendment to the Act, was not secured in Lalu’s case — although it was reportedly obtained for other public servants involved.
“This is a very shocking case. He was a minister since 2002. The investigation began in 2014, but they never obtained the sanction. For all other officials, sanction was taken — but not for him,” Sibal told the bench.
In response, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, countered that no sanction was required as the alleged offences occurred prior to the 2018 amendment, and thus Section 17A was not applicable retrospectively.
The Supreme Court, however, clarified that it would not delve into the merits of the case at this stage.
