A city court on Wednesday pulled up the CBI over the probe in a case against its former Special Director Rakesh Asthana and others, wondering why an accused having a bigger role was roaming free but the agency arrested its own Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).
Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal placed the charge sheet filed by the agency against Manoj Prasad, an accused in the case, for consideration on February 19. The CBI charge sheet says that its investigation did not reveal any role of public servants, giving a clean chit to Mr. Asthana and DSP Devender Kumar.
The court observed that the names of Mr. Asthana and Mr. Kumar, who was arrested in the case in 2018 and later released on bail, were mentioned in column 12 of the charge sheet as there was no evidence against them.
The CBI filed the charge sheet on Tuesday, a day before the matter was to come up in Delhi High Court, which in January set a four-week deadline for its submission in the lower court.
On a complaint from Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Sathish Babu, the agency registered the FIR in October 2018 naming Mr. Asthana, Mr. Kumar, Dubai-based investment banker Manoj and his brother Somesh Prasad as accused. The CBI has not yet arrested Mr. Manoj’s brother.
Mr. Babu had alleged that he paid over ₹3 crore in bribes through Mr. Manoj and his brother to get relief in a case against meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
In July 2019, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Mr. Babu in the money laundering case against Mr. Qureshi, who has been accused of receiving money from several people on the pretext of getting favours from public servants holding influential positions in the government.
The ED is yet to file its charge sheet against Mr. Babu under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
