A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced two Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials to three months in jail for criminal trespass, assault and mischief during an illegal raid and arrest of an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer 26 years ago.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Shashank Nandan Bhatt of the Tis Hazari Courts passed the order.
A detailed judgement is awaited.
Notably, the Court had earlier ruled that the CBI officers conducted the raid with a “malafide intent” and exceeded their lawful authority.
“This court is of the view that the actions of the accused persons in breaking open the main door of the house of the complainant on 19.10.2000, during the search and arrest proceedings, without any justified reason, constitutes commission of mischief and the act of consequently entering upon the property of the complainant, with the intention of malafidely exercising their official powers to settle professional scores, falls within the definition of criminal trespass,” the Court said.
The Court passed the order on a case filed by IRS officer Ashok Kumar Aggarwal, who accused the CBI officers of forcibly entering his Paschim Vihar home and assaulting him during an early morning search and raid operation on October 19, 2000.
Aggarwal alleged that a team of CBI officials broke into his house at around 5:30 AM, assaulted him, confined his family members and arrested him in an undignified manner while he was inadequately clothed. He further claimed that the raid was carried out maliciously to undermine a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order directing review of his suspension.
The accused officers denied the allegations, maintaining that the raid was part of an official investigation into disproportionate assets and that any force used was necessary after Aggarwal failed to cooperate. They also argued that their actions were protected under provisions relating to official duty.
However, the Court rejected the defence. It observed that the timing of the arrest just after the CAT order and the lack of justification for a forced entry raised serious doubts about the legitimacy of the operation.
“The actions of the accused persons were deliberate attempts aimed at denying the complainant the fruits of order passed by CAT and to keep him embroiled in investigations which were being conducted by CBI qua matters (RC S-18/E0001/99 and RC S-19/1999 E0006), in which the complainant was eventually discharged,” the Court observed.
Therefore, it concluded that the case against CBI officers was proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Advocate Shubham Asri appeared for Kumar.
Advocates Jawab Singh Jaglan and Prince Malik represnted the CBI officers.