A Special CBI Court presided by Judge Sanjiv Aggarwal today took cognizance of Central Bureau of Investigation’s chargesheet which has given clean chit to Rakesh Asthana, Devendra Kumar in the Manoj Prasad bribery case, also known as the CBI vs CBI case. (CBI vs Manoj Prasad & Ors).
Accordingly, opining that there is sufficient evidence to proceed against Manoj Prasad, Someshwar Srivastava and Sunil Mittal, the Court has summoned them as accused on April 13 for commission of offences under Sections 420, 385 read with 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 7 and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Court further noted that as of now, there was no sufficient material to proceed against Asthana and Devendra Kumar.
It, however, added that the Investigation in the case is ongoing.
The case involved corruption allegations against then Special Director, Rakesh Asthana, DSP Devendra Kumar and others.
It arose out of Satish Babu Sana's allegation that Rakesh Asthana received a bribe of Rs 2 Crore, through middleman Manoj Prasad, in exchange for a clean chit to Sana in an investigation in the case relating to meat trader Moin Qureshi.
Subsequently, an FIR was registered by the CBI- then headed by Director Alok Verma- against its own Special Director Asthana, DSP Devendra Kumar and others.
Shortly after the FIR was registered, CBI headquarters was raided and arrests were made pursuant to the FIR, including Devendra Kumar and Manoj Prasad.
Thereafter, the Central Government sent both the Director and the Special Director of the CBI on leave. The investigating team probing the allegations of bribery against Asthana under Officer AK BAssi was also overhauled and the investigation was handed over to Investigating Officer Satish Daggar.
Rakesh Asthana and Devendra Kumar subsequently moved the Delhi High Court to quash the FIR lodged against him.
Rejecting allegations of malafide, the High Court in January 2019 refused to quash the FIR. It, however, granted ten weeks to CBI to complete its probe.
On May 31, 2019, this deadline was extended by another four months. A second extension of two more months was granted on October 9, with a clarification that no further extension would be granted.
The CBI, however, moved a third application for extension of time in December 2019.
The chargesheet was filed by the CBI in February after the High Court pulled up the CBI for not complying with its earlier orders on the time-bound investigation.
