Plea in Delhi HC for FIR, CBI probe against Vasundhara Raje, her son

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today took up for hearing a plea seeking lodging of an FIR and a CBI probe against Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her son for allegedly obtaining compensation of Rs 1.97 crore by selling a piece of government land to NHAI for widening of a national highway in 2010.

The petition also challenged an April 18 decision of a special CBI court here, refusing to order a probe into the allegation against Raje and her son, saying no prior sanction had been obtained as required under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

Justice PS Teji, before whom the petition was listed, directed the prosecution counsel to place before him the order passed by the special CBI judge as well as the notification by which the court was set up.

He listed the matter for further hearing on October 8.

The special CBI judge had dismissed the private complaint by a Rajasthan-based lawyer, saying there was no sanction order to prosecute them under the PC Act.

According to the petition by lawyer Srijana Shrestha, Raje was not a public servant at the time of alleged commission of the offence in 2010 when she was the Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan legislative assembly.

"Accordingly, the present occupation of her post as Chief Minister would not require sanction under the PC Act as she had already demitted the office she was occupying when she allegedly committed the offence," the petition has claimed.

The petition also said that Raje and her son had allegedly illegally claimed ownership of a 567 square metre piece of land adjoining the Dholpur Palace in Dholpur town and sold it to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for Rs 1.97 crore, causing a loss to the state exchequer.