DEVENDER KUMAR Vs. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) W.P. (Crl.) 3248/2018 shall be treated as the lead case and unless stated otherwise, the expression petitioner shall mean the petitioner in this case. Respondent no. 2 is the Director, CBI, Respondent no. 3 is a Joint Director in the CBI, Respondent no. 4 is the UOI. The petitioner seeks quashing of FIR No. RC 13(A)/2018/AC-III dated 15.10.2018 (in short FIR/RC 2018) registered by the CBI. It is impugned on the ground that it falls foul of the statutory bar under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, (in short PC Act ). The said provision of law reads as under:

(2.) One Mr. Satish Babu (Sana) was being investigated by the CBI in RC No. 2242017A0001 (in short FIR/RC 2017). He has alleged harassment by the Investigating Officer of that case, demand of illegal gratification and extortion by the latter. He had complained of being repeatedly called by the investigating officials and at some stage was promised, through two persons namely Manoj Prasad (Manoj) and Somesh Prasad (Somesh), that in lieu of payment of Rs. 5 crores his harassment i.e. his being called for repeated investigation would cease. The said complaint was given by Sana to the CBI on 15.10.2018 wherein he had stated that he had appeared before Mr. Devinder Kumar, DSP on 12.10.2017 in CBI office on subsequent dates as well and had given answers to the query put to him apropos the RC 2017. That in December 2017 he interacted with one Manoj, whom Sana claims to have known for some time; the latter assured him of help in the case because of his proximity with some CBI officers. Manoj introduced the petitioner to his brother Somesh. They spoke to somebody over the telephone and promptly assured Sana again that his problem would be solved and no further CBI notice would be issued to him. However, for this relief an amount of Rs. 5 crores would have to be paid to the CBI officers through Somesh. An advance of Rs. 3 crores would have to be paid, while the remaining amount of Rs. 2 crores would be payable at the time of filing of the Chargesheet in the case and a clean chit would be managed for Sana. The complaint further states that upon inquiries made by him about the CBI Officer, with whom Somesh has spoken over the phone, the latter showed him a Display Profile (DP) on his Whatsapp contact, a picture indicating that that was the officer/person with whom he had spoken and who had assured favours to him in lieu of the payment of Rs. 5 crores. The said picture was of a person in police uniform. Somesh identified the said person as the petitioner in WP(Crl.) No. 3248/2018. Sana claims that later he cross-checked the photograph from the internet (Google website) and found that the photograph of the petitioner was the same as shown to him by Somesh. He states that in the belief that he would be able to get rid of the harassment and mental agony faced by him and his family, he arranged the payment of an amount of Rs. 1 crore to an identified person in Dubai and later paid an amount of Rs. 1.90 crores on 13.12.2017 at 9.25 p.m. to an identified person in Delhi. Sana further states that he subsequently heard a live conversation in a telephone call from Sana, which purportedly involved petitioner in WP(Crl.) No. 3248/2018 and some other persons; in the conversation, at one stage, instructions were issued that Sana's case be looked into. Somesh later informed the complainant that the instructions were given by the petitioner. The complaint mentions specific dates on which conversations were held, as well as some of the telephone numbers through which the conversations and monetary transactions were arranged and effected. The complainant laments that despite the said monies (over Rs. 3 crores) having been paid, he did not get any relief. On the basis of the said complaint the FIR bearing no. RC 13(A)/2018/AC-III was registered on 15.10.2018. Hence the aforesaid FIR was registered against, Mr. Rakesh Asthana, Spl. Director, CBI, Devinder Kumar, DSP, Mr. Manoj Prasad, Mr. Somesh Prasad and other public servants and private persons.

(3.) According to the CBI, Sana's complaint contains grave allegations against persons, including public servants. It makes out a cognizable offence and needs to be investigated.