NEW DELHI, July 30:
A Delhi court has dismissed the plea of former NALCO chief A K Srivastava, a graft case accused, for dropping corruption charges against him, saying that the sanction to prosecute him was granted after proper consideration.
The court’s order came on Srivastava’s plea that the CBI had neither obtained proper sanction before arresting him nor he was arrested “from the spot”.
Arrested by the CBI on February 25 last year for allegedly taking bribe from a private firm in lieu of the award of lucrative contracts to it, Srivastava had also contended that in his case, the agency had not adhered to the due process, prescribed in its crime manual for arresting and lodging FIRs.
Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Jain dismissed the plea saying that the April 20, 2011 sanction order, accorded in the name of the President of India for his prosecution was prima facie granted by the competent authority after proper consideration.
“After going through the sanction order, from any angle, prima facie, it cannot be said that the sanction has been granted by the competent authority without consideration of record or application of mind.
“Therefore, I do not find any substance in the plea of accused A K Srivastava and the application is dismissed,” the court said.
On Srivastava’s plea that the CBI should have obtained the sanction under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, the court said, “From the facts, it is clear that on source information, the FIR was registered and investigation has already started.”
“Therefore, no further sanction was required under section 6 (A) of the DSPE Act against accused A K Srivastava,” the judge said.
During the arguments on Srvastava’s plea, CBI prosecutor A K Gaba had said that after receipt of the source information, the matter was brought to the notice of the CBI director, who had given oral direction to lodge the FIR and probe the case.
Srivastava was arrested on February 25 along with his wife Chandni, alleged conduit B L Bajaj and his spouse Anita with the CBI claiming to have recovered about 10 kg of gold bricks and jewellery worth Rs 2.13 crore as also Rs 30 lakh in cash from their possession.
The CBI had alleged that B L Bajaj acted as a conduit for Bhatia group of companies for obtaining official favour for it from Srivastava and for that he had collected huge illegal gratification from G S Bhatia, the firm’s CMD on behalf of the the then NALCO’s CMD.
The CBI had said that Bajaj was working as a conduit between coal suppliers and Srivastava. (PTI)
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