Court discharges ex-OSD of Maneka Gandhi in corruption case

Three persons including a former OSD of Maneka Gandhi, who was minister during the earlier NDA regime, have been discharged in a corruption case by a Delhi court.
Special CBI judge Sanjeev Jain said there was no sufficient material to establish irregularities in grant of aid by the then Social Justice Minister Gandhi for setting up of a college in Pilibhit district in Uttar Pradesh in 1999.
Five persons, two of them now dead, were charge sheeted for allegedly conspiring and abusing the official position for grant of funds to Alp Sankhyak Mridul Kanya Inter College Shiksha Samiti at Bisalpur in Pilibhit by the Maulana Azad Educational Foundation (MAEF), an organisation fully funded by the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry headed by Gandhi, who was also an ex-officio President of the foundation.

The judge discharged the then Secretary of the foundation, F U Siddiqui, Ajay Bhardwaj, the then OSD to Gandhi, and Sharad Kumar Mishra, the then Chartered Accountant for the samiti.
"In view of the above, I am convinced that criminal intention cannot inferred against F U Siddiqui, Ajay Bhardwaj and Sharad Kumar Mishra. Keeping in view the entire facts and circumstances, in my opinion, prima facie there is no sufficient material on record to establish essential ingredient of the offence and to call it a case of grave suspicion against F U Siddiqui, Ajay Bhardwaj and Shard Kumar Mishra," the court said.

While Gandhi was not named in the charge sheet due to lack of evidence against her, CBI had charge sheeted Siddiqui, Vijay Kumar Gupta, Manager of Alp Sankhyak Samiti, Bhardwaj, Krishan Chand Mehrotra and Sharad Kumar, under the Indian Penal Code on charges, including forgery and cheating, and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

During the trial, Vijay Kumar and Krishan Chand Mehrotra died.
The court held that there was no substantial evidence found by the CBI against Chairperson or the members of the governing body who took the decision to grant sanction to the samiti.
It further said "no sanction for prosecution was granted against Manoj Kumar Singh, DM, Pilibhit".