The Bombay High Court has set aside a Thane Special CBI Court order that declared the arrests of three accused in an alleged Rs 40 lakh bribery case illegal, ordering two of them into CBI custody for custodial interrogation.
A single-judge bench of Justice Shivkumar G Dige allowed the CBI’s revision application against the Sessions Court order. The High Court directed that CGST Superintendent Rakesh Kumar Sinha, private individual Narinder Rajput and Customs House Agent Rajput be placed in CBI custody for two days, after which they are to be produced before the Sessions Judge.
The CBI has been investigating allegations that Sinha demanded a bribe from a businessman in connection with proceedings involving the complainant’s firm. According to the agency’s case, the demand was initially Rs 1.50 crore and was later negotiated to Rs 40 lakh.
The CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch in Mumbai registered the case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act on August 26, following the businessman’s complaint. The agency laid a trap the next day and apprehended Rajput while he was allegedly accepting Rs 40 lakh on behalf of Sinha and Additional Commissioner CGST Vinay Kumar Kantheti, a 2009-batch IRS officer.
Sinha and Kantheti were subsequently arrested and produced before the Special CBI Court in Thane. The court later termed the arrests illegal, denied the agency’s request for custodial interrogation and ordered the release of the accused on bail.
The Sessions Court had raised concerns about the way the investigating officer presented the case diary, referring to its papers as loosely arranged. It also observed that the arrest memos had been prepared without ensuring that the accused understood or received written grounds for arrest as required under procedure.
The High Court, however, described the Sessions Court order as “perverse” and “incorrect”, holding that the relevant procedures had been followed. It said that “mere loose pages of a case diary cannot be a ground to suspect the prosecution’s case at the threshold” and observed that the allegations against the accused were serious.
Following the High Court’s order, Sinha and Rajput were taken into CBI custody. The agency said in a press release that it was making efforts to trace and apprehend Kantheti, who remains unaccounted for according to the report.
The case now returns to the investigative stage, with the CBI required to produce the two accused before the Sessions Judge after the two-day custodial interrogation period ends.
