Incompetency of criminal investigation directions without verified foundational material

Directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to immediately register a formal criminal case and conduct roving inquiries into administrative and commercial actions requires strong, credible, and verified foundational material demonstrating prima facie criminality. Issuing sweeping directions for criminal investigation based purely on unverified suspicions and generalized complaints is contrary to well-established jurisprudential principles governing criminal jurisprudence. When statutory bodies and expert committees find no underlying illegality in the administrative process of granting licenses and approvals, routine invocation of criminal machinery is entirely unwarranted. Criminal law cannot be set in motion merely to settle civil disputes or exert pressure arising from commercial disagreements between developers and purchasers. (Raj Singh Gehlot & Ors. v. Amitabha Sen & Ors. | 2026 INSC 77)