The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it has filed a charge sheet in the trial court in connection with the bribery case that had created a rift among the agency's officers in 2018.
After observing that CBI has filed an investigation report, Justice Vibhu Bakhru said that nothing survives in the application related to seeking an extension of the further probe in the case.
CBI, from time to time, has filed an application seeking an extension to complete the investigation in the bribery charges against Devender Kumar, Rakesh Asthana, Manoj Prasad, and others.
However, on January 8, the High Court warned that if the CBI failed to complete its probe till the second week of February, then the CBI Director need to appear before it, and explained the delay.
Earlier in the morning, Delhi's Rouse Avenue court expressed unhappiness over the CBI investigation into a bribery case involving its former Special Director Rakesh Asthana and put up the charge-sheet for consideration for February 19.
Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal asked why certain accused, who seem to have a bigger role in the case, roaming free while the CBI arrested its own DSP.
"You also arrested your own DSP and ruined his career. Now, you have not found anything concrete and put him in column 12 of the charge sheet," Aggarwal said.
The CBI officer, while sharing charge-sheet details in the court, informed that a Look Out Circular has been opened against Asthana's brother Somesh Prasad and the letter rogatory is pending for further probe.
On this, the court asked, "Is opening an LOC sufficient? He is enjoying life and roaming around."
Asthana and DSP Devender Kumar, who was arrested in 2018 and later got bail, were named in column 12 of the charge sheet in the case since there was not enough evidence to make them accused.
The CBI had registered the case against former CBI Special Director Asthana on the basis of a complaint from Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana, facing probe in the 2017 case allegedly involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
On Tuesday, the CBI had filed a charge-sheet in connection with the alleged bribery case in its special court.
Asthana and Kumar have not been named as accused in the charge sheet, according to CBI sources.
Dubai based businessman and alleged middleman Manoj Prasad has been made an accused in the case. The charge-sheet states that the investigation in the matter is still underway.
Asthana and Kumar are being probed by the CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe in exchange of giving a clean chit to Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana.
Asthana had also accused former CBI Director Alok Verma of trying to falsely implicate him in the case, following which the Centre sent both the officers on leave last year.
( With inputs from ANI )