Delhi High Court snubs dentist's plea for prosecution of NCB chief Rakesh Asthana

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the plea by a dentist seeking directions to the Centre, Central Vigilance Commission and CBI to investigate and launch criminal prosecution on his complaint against Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chief Rakesh Asthana.

Justice Suresh Kait also imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 on the petitioner — Dr Mohit Dhawan. Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, who appeared for the dentist, said the amount has to be deposited in the high court within two weeks.

​He said the detailed order containing all the reasons was not yet available, but one of the grounds of dismissal was that the plea was without any merits.

On February 12, the matter was listed before Justice Yogesh Khanna who had recused himself from hearing the matter and directed that it be listed before another bench.

The Chandigarh-based dentist had first moved the Supreme Court for criminal prosecution of Asthana based on his allegations that the NCB was indulging in extortion in connivance with other police officers.

However, on February 8, he had withdrawn the plea from the apex court and said he would approach the Punjab and Haryana HC to pursue the remedy.

Dhawan, in his petition, has contended that he had filed a complaint against Asthana, who also heads the BSF, before the CBI head in 2019 but there has been no action or adjudication so far.