HC pulls up director of firm being probed by CBI in raid case

The Delhi High Court today came down heavily on the director of a firm, which is being probed by CBI in an alleged graft case against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, saying he was "spoiling the system" and trying to "scare away" the probe agency.
Displeased by the plea filed by the Director of Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL) for Rs 50 crore compensation from CBI over the alleged act of custodial violence by one of its officers, Justice Manmohan said the petitioner was putting the agency, which was the "last resort", under "grave threat".
The court was of the view that if the agency collapses it would amount to "collapse of the republic and the country" and would result in "bedlam and chaos".

"You are spoiling the system. CBI is the last resort and if this collapses there will be bedlam and chaos. If it collapses, it would lead to collapse of the republic, the country. It is one of the few institutions that protect our country. You are putting the institution under grave threat.
"You (petitioner) are trying to say do not touch me. If this is allowed, interrogations will never happen. You cannot stop proceedings by threatening to sue them (CBI) for Rs 50 crore. This petition is an attempt to scandalise. I will say so candidly. You want to scare away the CBI. This Rs 50 crore business is a dead give away. You are playing with fire. Do not do this," the judge said.

Looking at the strong views expressed by the court, the lawyer for the petitioner, Dinesh Kumar Gupta, withdrew his plea in which apart from the Rs 50 crore damages he also sought audio-video recording of his questioning by the agency.

Regarding the argument on behalf of the petitioner that he
was asked to go to the CBI office everyday for 40 days at a stretch, the court said, "The least they should have done was arrest you. They have not. You are a lucky man. You are being pampered."
On the petitioner's allegation that he was subjected to custodial violence due to which he lost hearing in one ear, the court said, "The allegations levelled by you do not inspire confidence. You are a person with means. If you were beaten up, you would have taken a MLC and lodged an FIR. You could be losing hearing in an ear due to any other reason. This allegation of losing hearing in an ear is an after thought."

"Show me any law till today which mandates that audio- video recording of proceedings has to be done," the court also said with regard to the plea for audio-video recording of his questioning.
Earlier last month a trial court had defreezed two bank accounts of Gupta's firm Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL).
CBI had challenged the order in the high court which has sought the firm's reply by May 5.
According to CBI, Kumar allegedly favoured ESPL in contracts worth Rs 9.5 crore during 2007-14.
CBI had alleged that Kumar had played an "active role in process of promising and facilitating" award of tender to a "pre-determined party", ESPL, due to extraneous consideration.

The agency's raid on the office of Kumar, close to the Chief Minister's office in the Delhi secretariat on December 15 last year, had triggered a political storm.
CBI had registered a case against Kumar and others on the allegations that he had abused his official position by favouring the firm in the last few years in getting tenders from the Delhi government departments.