CBI vs CBI: HC reserves verdict on pleas of special director Rakesh Asthana

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a petition filed by CBI special director Rakesh Asthana, seeking quashing of an FIR registered against him in a bribery case.

The bench that heard the petition perused the case diaries before reserving its order for judgement. During arguments, Asthana’s lawyer reiterated that the FIR was antedated and malicious. It was alleged that Asthana was falsely implicated at the behest of CBI director Alok Verma and that the FIR was registered without seeking the mandatory prior sanction.

It was also contended that while the “complainant” in the case got his statement recorded before a judicial magistrate on October 4, the FIR was registered on October 15. All the respondents, including Verma, denied the accusations levelled against them, and demanded a deep probe into the allegations against Asthana.


The FIR was registered against Asthana, deputy superintendent of police Devinder Kumar and two Dubai-based individuals — Manoj Prasad and his brother Somesh — on charges of demanding an illegal gratification to bail out an accused in a money-laundering case involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

Manoj Prasad was granted bail earlier this week by a lower court, after the CBI failed to file a charge-sheet within the stipulated period of 60 days. Satish Babu Sana, the complainant against Asthana, was grilled by the agency earlier this week over alleged discrepancies in his complaint.