Live
- BUDA Commissioner and Member Arrested
- The importance of regular mental health screenings for seniors: Emphasizing early detection and intervention
- Voters Reject Dynastic Politics in Karnataka: Raja Mannar
- How Many Almonds Are Too Many? Ideal Daily Intake Explained
- Sony LIV's Freedom at Midnight received a thumbs up from author Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi
- Fraud Awareness Week: LinkedIn shares tips and tools to safeguard job-search experience
- Hyundai Motor India Foundation inaugurates Gurugram's first ever Traffic Engineering Centre under its Easy Roads initiative
- QualiZeal Launches QMentisAI at QE Conclave: Shaping the Future of Quality Engineering with AI
- Six injured in five-vehicle crash in Japan
- The Bougainvillea Restaurant Introduces Exquisite New Menu to Celebrate Culinary Evolution
Rakesh Asthana case: HC asks CBI Director to be present in court if probe not complete
Justice Vibhu Bakhru pulled up the CBI for repeatedly seeking an extension of time to complete its investigation in the case.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the CBI director to be present before it on February 10 if the agency fails to complete an investigation into the bribery case allegedly involving its then special director Rakesh Asthana.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru pulled up the CBI for repeatedly seeking an extension of time to complete its investigation in the case.
The court passed the order while hearing the CBI's plea seeking further extension of time to complete the probe and said if the probe is completed before the next date of hearing, that is February 10, its application would become infructuous and no assistance of any officer would be required by the court.
The CBI had last month told the court that it needed more time to complete the probe in the case.
The agency had said that there were eight stages of scrutiny, of which just four had been completed.
On January 11, 2019, the high court had granted the CBI 10 weeks' time to complete the investigation.
It granted the agency four more months on May 31, 2019, to conclude the probe.
Then on October 9, 2019, while granting two months more, the court said that the investigation could not be delayed indefinitely and that it should have been completed.
Asthana, the agency's then Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar and businessman Manoj Prasad were booked on allegations of criminal conspiracy, corruption and criminal misconduct under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Kumar, earlier the investigating officer in a case involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi, was arrested on allegations of forgery in recording the statement of Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana, who had allegedly paid a bribe to get relief in the case.
He was arrested on October 22, 2018 and granted bail on October 31, 2018.
The high court had in January 2019 disposed of three petitions of Asthana, Kumar and Prasad by a common order in which the CBI was directed to complete the investigation in the case within 10 weeks.
