HC begins hearing on pleas by Asthana and Devender Kumar in bribery case

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday commenced hearing on the petitions filed by Special CBI Director Rakesh Asthana and DSP Devender Kumar seeking quashing of an FIR against them in a bribery case.

The separate petitions filed by them are being heard by Justice Najmi Waziri.

Senior Advocate Amrendra Sharan is arguing for Asthana, who has also sought that the direction be passed that no coercive action be taken against him by the CBI.

Asthana moved the petition on Tuesday, hours after Kumar approached the high court which agreed to give an urgent hearing.

Both the petitions were mentioned before Chief Justice Rajendra Menon, who allocated the matter for hearing before Justice Waziri.

The CBI had yesterday arrested its DSP, Kumar, in connection with bribery allegations involving the investigative agency's second-in-command, Asthana.

Kumar, earlier the investigating officer in a case involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi, was arrested on the allegations of forgery in recording the statement of businessman Sathish Sana, who had alleged to have paid bribe to get relief in the case.

In his statement, Sana had purportedly said that he had in June this year discussed his case with Telugu Desam Party's Rajya Sabha member C M Ramesh who, after speaking to the CBI Director, had assured him that he would not be summoned again.

"From June onwards, I was not called by the CBI. I was under the impression that investigation against me is complete," he is believed to have said.

The CBI has now alleged that Kumar had fabricated this statement as an "afterthought...to corroborate the baseless allegations made by Asthana against CBI Director Alok Verma to the CVC (Central Vigilance Commissioner)".

They said the agency was also looking into the alleged role of other members of the special investigation team headed by Asthana.

Asthana, who was booked by the agency on bribery charges in an unprecedented action, had complained against Verma on August 24, 2018.