SIT hands over stamp scam cases to CBI

After handing over the last document to the CBI on Tuesday, the probe by the Special Investigating Team into the fake stamps scam formally came to an end.

"The SIT ceases to exist today," an SIT official said in Mumbai.

Officials of the SIT handed over documents to a CBI team at Pune on Tuesday while the Mumbai SIT has already completed this task. The SIT's action came following a Supreme Court directive in mid-March.

SIT chief and retired DGP S S Puri had handed over the documents in his possession to the CBI in March while DIGs Sanjay Barwe, Hemant Nagarale and Subodh Jaiswal handed over cases in their charge to the CBI.

The SIT began in September 2002 with DIG Subodh Jaiswal as its head. Eventually, acting on a PIL, the Bombay high court appointed retired DGP S S Puri as SIT chief and the subsequent probe led to the arrest of over 70 prominent persons, including former Mumbai police commissioner R S Sharma.