A Delhi court on Wednesday asked the CBI why no lie detector test or psychological test was conducted on the agency’s former special director Rakesh Asthana in connection with a bribery complaint in 2018.
The CBI had filed a chargesheet in the case last week and given a clean chit to Asthana, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and another agency official Devender Kumar in the bribery complaint case.
The charge had triggered an unprecedented public feud between Asthana and the then CBI director, Alok Verma. Both were benched by the Centre after a controversial midnight raid.
On Wednesday, the court asked CBI officials why Asthana was not confronted with the other accused; whether his mobile phones and laptops were examined; and if there was any evidence to disprove the complainant’s statement recorded under Section 164 of the CRPC.
“We examined him (Asthana) but never confronted him with anyone,” the agency told the court.
Special CBI judge Sanjeev Aggarwal directed Ajay Kumar Bassi, the initial investigating officer in the case, to appear before it on February 28 to explain the case diary.
DSP Bassi, who was shunted out by the Centre after the midnight raid, had approached the Supreme Court in November 2018 with an explosive petition that listed a threat to his life, the possibility of evidence-tampering and specific charges against Asthana, then the special director. Bassi was sent to Port Blair hours after the midnight raid.
Among the charges levelled by Bassi, who was the investigating officer in the case, was one that bribes of Rs 3.31 crore changed hands in two phases.
Asthana was booked on charges of graft in October 2018 on a complaint from Sathish Sana, a Hyderabad-based businessman who was a co-accused in a corruption case. Sana had alleged that then special director Asthana had assured him of a clean chit in return for a bribe.
In a statement to the CBI, Sana had named Asthana, Devender Kumar and Dubai-based middleman Manoj Prasad and his brother Somesh Prasad and had said that the bribes were taken in Asthana’s name. Asthana had denied all the allegations.
