The court has listed Kumar’s plea for hearing before a bench in the post-lunch Tuesday.
Special Director of CBI Rakesh Asthana moved the Delhi High Court Friday against lodging of an FIR against him, seeking direction from the court that no coercive action be taken in the bribery case against him. His petition was mentioned before Chief Justice Rajendra Menon, who allocated the matter to an appropriate bench that will hear it in the post-lunch session.
Earlier today, the investigating agency’s DSP Devender Kumar approached the Delhi High Court challenging his arrest in connection with bribery allegations involving Asthana.
Devender Kumar, who was Investigating Officer (IO) in the Moin Qureshi case as part of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Asthana, was arrested on Monday. The CBI had earlier searched Kumar’s office in the CBI building Friday. Kumar was the accused Number 2 in the FIR filed by CBI last Tuesday which named Asthana as accused Number 1.
The DSP has made CBI, its director Alok Kumar Verma, joint director A K Sharma and Department of Personnel and Training as parties in the case, PTI reported. The plea has sought quashing of the FIR terming it as being “illegal, frivolous and malafide”. “Issue an appropriate writ or order calling for the records of the case and other related documents and for quashing of the FIR registered against the petitioner,” the plea said, adding he has no other efficacious remedy than to approach the high court.
CBI sources said that Kumar was arrested on the allegation of “falsification of records in an ongoing investigation”, where he had allegedly fabricated the statement of Sana Sathish Babu “as an afterthought plan to corroborate the baseless allegations” made by Asthana against the CBI Director.