A court in Delhi on Saturday accepted Central Bureau of Investigation’s exoneration of former Special Director Rakesh Asthana and Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar in a bribery case, PTI reported.
In the chargesheet filed last month, the CBI named Dubai-based businessman Manoj Prasad while keeping the investigation against his brother Someshwar Srivastava, and father-in-law Sunil Mittal, open. Research and Analysis Wing chief Samant Goel, whose name had come up in connection with the Prasad brothers, has also been dropped from the case.
Asthana and Kumar, along with middleman Manoj Prasad, were under the CBI lens for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore in exchange for clearing Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana, who was being investigated in the Moin Qureshi corruption case. Qureshi is accused in multiple graft cases.
Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal observed that there was not sufficient evidence to summon Asthana and Kumar. The court summoned Prasad, Srivastava and Mittal, saying there was sufficient material to proceed against them.
They were directed to appear before the court on April 13.
The court also said that the CBI may file a chargesheet if it finds anything against Asthana during the investigation.
Asthana was accused of receiving kickbacks and extorting money from businessman Sana. Asthana, in turn, accused former CBI Director Alok Verma of trying to falsely implicate him, and levelled corruption charges against him. The Centre subsequently sent both Asthana and Verma on compulsory leave in October 2018.
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