Asthana moves Delhi HC seeking quashing of FIR

Central Bureau of Investigation Special Director Rakesh Asthana on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking interim protection from arrest and quashing of an FIR in connection with bribery allegations against him.

Earlier in the morning, the arrested CBI Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Devender Kumar moved the High Court challenging his arrest.

Asthana and Kumar's plea seeking the court's direction to quash the First Information Report (FIR) will be heard by the High Court post lunch.

Kumar, in his plea, has requested the court to call documents related to the case.

He told the High Court that in spite of an excellent record in probing cases, he has been made a scapegoat in the matter. He said he has been implicated in a false, frivolous and afterthought case.

He termed the FIR against him as a shocking state of affairs and called the complaint against him illegal and malafide.

Kumar was arrested on Monday for fabricating documents in the bribery allegations case against Asthana. Meat exporter Moin Qureshi, who is facing multiple cases of money laundering and corruption, had paid a bribe to get a case against him settled, the agency said.

According to the CBI, Kumar fabricated the statement of Sathish Sana, a witness in the Qureshi case, showing he recorded the statement on September 26 in Delhi. However, investigation has revealed that Sana was not in Delhi on that day. He was in Hyderabad and joined the investigation only on October 1.

Kumar's arrest comes a day after the CBI registered an FIR against Asthana, Kumar and two others. The CBI has alleged that bribes were taken at least five times in December 2017 and October 2018.

Asthana, a 1984 batch Indian Police Service officer of the Gujarat cadre, is accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a businessman who was being investigated in the Qureshi case in order to "wreck" the investigation. The case was being examined by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Asthana.

--IANS

akk/mag/bg