The Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Jammu, on Monday directed the inquiry officer of the Crime Branch to appear in person in connection with the alleged detection of impure silver worth over Rs 500 crore among offerings made at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
Presiding over the matter, Chief Judicial Magistrate Munish Kumar Manhas ordered the officer to appear before the court on July 29 along with the complete record of the inquiry.
The direction came during proceedings on an application filed by advocate Deepak Sharma, who had earlier submitted a complaint to the Inspector General of Police, Crime Branch, Jammu, and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, Economic Offences Wing, seeking registration of an FIR and a comprehensive probe into the alleged adulteration, substitution and possible misappropriation of silver offerings made by devotees at the shrine in Reasi district.
In his complaint, submitted on May 9, Sharma alleged the commission of several cognisable offences, including criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of property, manipulation of records and the procurement or use of cadmium-contaminated material in place of silver.
Subsequently, Sharma approached the CJM’s court seeking an action-taken report and directions for registration of an FIR and a detailed investigation.
In compliance with the court’s earlier directions, the Crime Branch filed a status report stating that the complaint had first been forwarded to the Crime Headquarters in Srinagar for approval and, after clearance, was sent to the Zonal Police Headquarters, Jammu, for “appropriate action.”
On Monday, Sharma filed detailed objections to the status report, arguing that the administrative forwarding of the complaint did not constitute lawful action on information disclosing cognisable offences.
The objections further contended that the status report failed to indicate any steps taken to preserve crucial evidence, including inventory and stock registers, CCTV footage, transportation and dispatch records, assay reports, correspondence with the Mint, electronic records, and documents relating to the receipt, storage, transportation, testing and melting of the offerings.
The controversy surfaced in April after reports claimed that nearly 20 tonnes of accumulated silver offerings, estimated to be worth around Rs 550 crore, had been sent for testing, melting and processing. According to those reports, only 5-6 per cent of the material was found to be genuine silver, while the remainder allegedly consisted of cadmium, iron and other base metals.