The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on petitions filed by Central Bureau of Investigation Special Director Rakesh Asthana and Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar seeking to quash a First Information Report against them in a bribery case, ANI reported.
Justice Najmi Waziri concluded the arguments during which the agency’s Director Alok Verma said that all mandatory procedures of law were followed while registering the FIR against Asthana, PTI reported.
In October, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government sent Asthana and Alok Verma on leave after they accused each other of corruption. Asthana is accused of receiving kickbacks and extorting money from Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana, who was being investigated in the Moin Qureshi corruption case. Qureshi is an accused in multiple graft cases.
In November, Asthana told the Delhi High Court that the FIR filed against him was a backlash to his complaints of criminal misconduct against Verma. The agency had opposed Asthana’s plea that the FIR be quashed, saying that the inquiry against Asthana was at a nascent stage.
According to the First Information Report filed by the CBI in the case, the agency’s Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar, the investigating officer in the case against Qureshi, had asked Sana to pay Rs 5 crore bribe. Kumar was arrested by the agency on October 22 but a local court in Delhi granted him bail more than a week later.
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