News Analysis India

Tag: CBI

  • Can Mumbai cops behind reinstating Waze claim impunity? HC to CBI on Anil Deshmukh’s plea

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday asked if Mumbai Police officers, who were behind the reinstatement of former assistant police inspector Sachin Waze in the service, could claim impunity on the ground that they were unaware of his past records and antecedents.

    A bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar said that if one were to get into the “root” of the allegations of corruption made against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, one would prima facie see that Waze had been collecting the extortion money that Deshmukh allegedly asked him to.

    “However, who was behind reinstating Waze into the city police force, the bench asked? “Can they say they didn’t know about his past?” the bench asked.

    The bench posed the question to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducting an inquiry against Deshmukh following allegations of corruption levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

    The bench said it was saying, “at the cost of repetition,” that the CBI must not exclude any guilty party out of its probe.

    “At the cost of repeating, we are saying that the investigation must be against all involved. The normal way is that as long as things are going well, no one says anything. Once a transfer happens, all sorts of allegations are made,” the bench said.

    “If we get into the root of this matter, Waze was collecting money. So who was behind his reinstatement? Can someone now say that he was not aware of Waze’s past, his record etc. (while reinstating him)? That is why we are saying again and again that this episode was not a one-man thing. The crux of the HC order (directing a preliminary inquiry into the allegations) is to instil public confidence,” the HC said.

    The high court’s observations came while it was hearing a plea filed by Deshmukh seeking that the FIR registered by the CBI against him be quashed.

    He had denied the allegations against him.

    Deshmukh’s counsel, senior advocate Amit Desai had said that the CBI probe was illegal since the agency had failed to take prior sanction to prosecute Deshmukh, who was at the time a public servant.

    Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi told the high court that no sanction was required as Deshmukh hadn’t been discharging his official duties by indulging in corruption and misconduct.

    Lekhi said the CBI probe didn’t warrant any interference from the court.

    “The home minister (Deshmukh) gave a target to collect money to Waze. It’s not a minister’s job to give targets to police officers. This case is of maladministration and misgovernance,” Lekhi said.

    “The minister was asking officers to conduct financial deals not mandated by the statute. This was outside of the realm of what a minister can do. A minister’s work can’t be lacking in legitimacy and be illicit. Since it was so in this case, such acts can’t be said to have been performed in the discharge of his official duties,” he said.

    Besides, the provision to seek prior sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act was not meant to protect wrongdoers, Lekhi said.

    He further said that “no one” was outside the purview of the CBI’s probe.

    The HC then asked what prevented the seniormost police officer in the state (ParamBir Singh) from initiating an inquiry against Deshmukh as soon as he got to know of the former minister’s alleged misconduct?

    “Was is not the duty of the then CP to have registered an FIR? Was it then not the duty of the top police officer to immediately register a case? We expect a practical investigation against all (parties involved). Why was the highest officer not investigating when informed. He could himself have registered the FIR,” it said.

    The court also asked the CBI for a copy of its probe report in the case.

    It said it will return the report in a sealed envelope to the central agency after going through the same.

    The HC closed all arguments on Deshmukh’s plea on Monday and reserved its verdict on the same.

    Waze was reinstated last June after being under suspension for over 16 years for his alleged role in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case.

    In April this year, a bench led by Bombay HC chief justice Dipankar Datta had directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Deshmukh based on a complaint lodged at the Malabar Hill police station in the city, by lawyer Jaishri Patil.

    In her complaint seeking a probe against both Deshmukh and Param Bir Singh, Patil had also attached a copy of the letter written by Singh to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray making allegations against Deshmukh.

    The CBI subsequently registered an FIR against Deshmukh on charges of corruption.

    The agency said in its FIR that Deshmukh had had the knowledge of the reinstatement of former assistant police inspector Sachin Waze, and that he exercised undue interference in the transfers and postings of state police officers.

    Waze, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the recovery of an explosives-laden SUV from outside the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in south Mumbai and the subsequent murder of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, was later sacked from the service.

  • Madhya Pradesh​: Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekhar Azad seeks CBI probe of murder of Dalit family

    By PTI
    DEWAS: Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Saturday met relatives of the five members of a Dalit family who were killed at Nemawar town in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district, and demanded a CBI probe.

    “I have come here from Delhi to make MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan break his silence on the gruesome killings. We will not sit quiet until a CBI probe is ordered,” he told reporters.

    The bodies of Mamata Balai (45), her daughters Rupali (21) and Divya (14) as well as relatives Puja (15) and Pawan (14), all of whom had been missing since May 13, were found buried in an agricultural field on June 29.

    As per the police, Surendra Rajput, who was in a relationship with Rupali but was about to marry another girl, was behind the murders.

    Rajput allegedly got angry after Rupali wrote a post on social media containing wrong information about the girl.

    He, alongwith his brother Virendra and friends Vivek Tiwari, Rajkumar, Manoj Korku and Karan Korku killed five members of the family and buried them in the field, police claimed.

    All six accused have been arrested.

  • Anil Deshmukh case: CBI records statement of dismissed Mumbai cop Sachin Waze in prison

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recorded the statement of dismissed Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze, who is lodged in a jail, in connection with its probe into the corruption charges against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, an official said on Friday.

    Waze was quizzed at the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai by a team of the CBI which is probing the corruption charges against Deshmukh on direction of the Bombay High Court, the official said.

    The questioning took place on Wednesday and Thursday, he said.

    Last week, a special court had allowed the CBI to quiz Waze.

    Earlier, the central agency had interrogated the former encounter cop and recorded his statement in April.

    Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged role in recovery of an explosives-laden car from outside the south Mumbai residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani and subsequent murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiran, the owner of the vehicle.

    Following the HC direction, the CBI had registered an FIR in April against Deshmukh and others after a preliminary enquiry in connection with the allegations of corruption and misconduct levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

    Deshmukh, an NCP leader, had resigned from the state cabinet after the HC order.

    Waze had claimed he was asked to collect money from bar and restaurant owners allegedly on instructions of Deshmukh, who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.

  • CBI searches 14 locations in connection with corruption cases against HNBGU ex-VC, his OSD

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Friday carried out searches at 14 locations in connection with six corruption cases against the ex-vice chancellor of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University (HNBGU) J L Kaul, his OSD DS Negi and others, officials said.

    The searches took place at residential premises of the accused in Dehradun and Srinagar in Uttarakhand and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

    “Three lockers in different banks were also operated. Various incriminating documents pertaining to the case have been recovered,” CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

    The agency had earlier registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against Kaul on allegations that during his tenure from 2014 to 2016, certain irregularities were committed in grant of affiliation to various colleges/institutes.

    “It was also alleged that the said public servant along with his OSD and other unknown officials of HNB Garhwal University, encouraged extension of affiliation to different private institutes/colleges, in contravention of the guidelines and regulations for continuation and/or extension of existing affiliation of colleges,” he said.

  • CBI takes over probe into Kamlesh Prajapat encounter case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI has taken over investigation in the encounter of Kamlesh Prajapat, who was wanted by Rajasthan police in a number of cases, in Barmer, officials said Wednesday.

    The state government had recommended the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following a demand by Prajapat’s community members and leaders of the Congress and the BJP who had alleged that the encounter was “fake”.

    After registering the case, the CBI team has reached the encounter site in Barmer, they said.

    Madan Prajapat, the Congress MLA from Pachpadra constituency in Barmer, had met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot where he had raised the demand for a CBI probe into the killing, Known as a notorious smuggler, Barmer-resident Prajapat was wanted in a hit-and-run incident and several other criminal cases.

    After the encounter on April 22, the Barmer police had claimed that Prajapat attempted to kill a policeman when a team had gone to nab him.

    The police opened fire at him in self-defence, they said.

    “It was alleged that police conducted a raid at the residence of Kamlesh Prajapat at Barmer in connection with a case of attempt to murder on SHO Pali (Rajasthan).

    “It was also alleged that while the police team was waiting for Kamlesh Prajapat to come out of his residence, he allegedly tried to flee by breaking open his backside gate by his vehicle and is said to have tried to run over the police party,” CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said in a statement.

    He said it was also alleged that during the incident, the police fired on Prajapat.

    One constable was allegedly injured by the vehicle of Kamlesh Prajapat.

    Both were taken to hospital by the police where Kamlesh Prajapat succumbed to bullet injuries, he said.

  • CBI should widen probe into FIR against former minister Anil Deshmukh: Bombay HC

    The court was hearing a petition filed by Deshmukh seeking quashing of the FIR registered by the CBI on April 24 against him on charges of corruption and misuse of official position.

  • Gomti river front project irregularities: CBI registers second FIR, 189 officials booked

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI has booked 189 officials and contractors in its second FIR related to irregularities in the Rs 1,437-crore Gomti river front development project in Lucknow, which was undertaken during the tenure of the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Monday.

    Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister then. After registering the fresh FIR on Friday, following a preliminary inquiry, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday carried out searches at 42 locations spread across 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Alwar in Rajasthan and Kolkata in West Bengal, they said.

    The officials said that the operation, which started early in the morning, is going on and it may be expanded during the course of the day. This is the second FIR related to the project by the CBI. An earlier FIR has already covered work orders worth over Rs 1,031 crore.

    In the present FIR, in which 16 officials, including chief engineers, and 173 contractors are accused, the CBI has alleged that 30 notices inviting tenders have come under the scanner. Out of these, only five were published in newspapers while the remaining 25 forged letters were sent to the Department of Information and Publication to show compliance, it alleged.

    The agency has listed several similar irregularities, including award of tender on the basis of forged documents and forgery in publication of notices inviting tender, according to the present FIR.

    The preliminary inquiry also showed that 27 work orders each over Rs 1 lakh, including one for import of an international standard musical fountain, worth over 55.95 lakh Euros (Rs 49.3 crore at the present exchange rate), from the Aquatique Show in Strasbourg, France, were issued without any tender, it alleged.

    The CBI said that this was in violation of government orders which stipulate that no order of above Rs 1 lakh can be awarded without an tender. The quotation notice for the fountain was issued by Akhil Raman, the then superintendent engineer, and it was genuinely published, it said.

    “However, prior to issuance of quotation notice a normal tendering process notice was shown by Raman. This notice was not published and forged receipt letter, release order and copies of newspaper clippings were placed in the records,” an official said.

    The estimate was approved on the basis quotations in 2016. Roop Singh Yadav, another the then superintendent engineer, directly wrote to the French company for signing the contract. He recommended for issuance of supply order for the company, the CBI alleged.

    SN Sharma, the then chief engineer, sought prior permission to import the material on August 27, 2016, and issued supply order after four days without obtaining prior permission, it alleged. The CBI has alleged that Sharma, Raman and Yadav abused their official position and issued the supply order on quotation basis instead of tender basis giving undue benefit to Aquatique Show.

    In Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district, CBI sleuths raided the residence of contractor Rakesh Bhati in connection with the case, officials said. Bhati is also a member of the Congress unit in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2022 UP assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress, among others, will try to wrest the state from the BJP.

    Uttar Pradesh Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said that CBI searches indicate to the misdeeds of the previous Akhilesh Yadav government. “We had requested the CBI earlier to speed up its probe in such scams.

    The CBI is a central agency and working in its style. In the Gomti river front scam, the searches are on at places of 16 engineers and 173 contractors,” the minister said when asked about it by reporters here in Lucknow.

  • CBI registers fresh case in Gomti river front project irregularities

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI has registered a fresh case in the alleged irregularities in the ambitious Gomti river front project in Lucknow, which was undertaken during the Samajwadi Party’s government in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly polls are due next year.

    The agency started a massive search operation at around 43 locations in multiple states on Monday following the registration of FIR, officials said.

    The operation, which started early in the morning, is going on and it may be expanded during the course of the day, they said.

    The officials said that a large number of engineers of the Uttar Pradesh government and other officials, around 180 of them have been made accused in the FIR.

    This is the second FIR related to the project by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

    In the 2022 UP assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party, under Akhilesh Yadav, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress, among others, will try to wrest the state from the BJP.

  • Fake vaccination camps: Suvendu Adhikari writes to Harsh Vardhan for CBI probe

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari has sought a probe by the central agencies into fake vaccination drive in the city conducted by a man impersonating as an IAS officer having “influence in the ruling party.”

    The BJP leader made the demand for central probe in a letter written to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

    In his letter, Adhikari alleged that the man, who was arrested after his drive was busted by the police, has “influence in the ruling party”.

    He claimed that Debanjan Deb, the main accused, held illegal vaccination camps in Kasba, Amherst Street and Sonarpur areas under the “watch of the local administration, including police and civic authorities”.

    “Hundreds of people have already been inoculated in these camps. While copies of Aadhaar cards were procured from the recipients in Kasba, none of them received any certificate of vaccination.”

    “The big question is – were these shots really Covishield vaccines as being claimed by the accused? If so, then this raises a big question on pilferage of COVID vaccines from the government stock and this cannot happen without complicity of top civic authorities.”

    “If these were not COVID vaccines, then immediate investigation needs to be done,” Adhikari said in the letter written on Friday.

    The Kolkata Police arrested Deb (28) Wednesday for allegedly posing as an IAS officer and organising a COVID-19 vaccination camp in Kasba area, and formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the joint police commissioner (Crime).

    The SIT will investigate how the main accused held COVID-19 vaccination camps where around 2000 people were suspected to have been administered fake doses,a senior officer had said.

    Actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty, who had taken COVID vaccine shot at one of the camps set up by Deb,was first to raise the alarm as she did not receive the customary SMS that is sent to people after they have taken the jab.

    “Public health frauds like this in the midst of a raging global pandemic are making common people skeptic. I sincerely urge you to order a thorough investigation by concerned central agencies into this vaccination fraud and punish the guilty.”

    “An impartial investigation by the central agencies, undaunted by any pressure from the state’s ruling party or the government, is the need of the hour to restore credibility of the entire COVID vaccination process in West Bengal,” Adhikari wrote to the union health minister.

    The incident triggered a political storm after purported photographs and videos of the arrested person along with several TMC leaders and ministers at various programmes came in the public domain.

    PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the photographs or videos.

    Adhikari claimed that the main accused held illegal vaccination camps decorated with “trademark blue and white balloons characteristic of the TMC government events”.

    “While Kolkata Police has reportedly started investigating into the fraud, several incriminating photos suggestive of the accused’s influence in the ruling party of West Bengal have come to the fore,” the BJP leader alleged.

    The TMC leadership, however, has denied any involvement in the matter.

    “We are politicians and attend several programmes every day. Many people come to us and click pictures. It is not always possible to ascertain their identity. The allegations against our leaders are baseless and politically motivated,” senior TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim said.

    After its defeat in the assembly polls, the BJP was looking for an issue to corner the TMC government and is quick to grab it and demanded a CBI probe to look into the matter, Hakim said.

    “If just a photograph proves someone guilty, several BJP leaders should be put behind the bars for having photographed with the scamsters,” senior TMC leader Tapas Ray has said.

    Adhikari on Friday led a BJP delegation to Swasthya Bhawan, the state health department headquarters, and questioned officials how a person impersonating as an IAS officer has been organising vaccination camps remained off the radar of the police and the department for so long.

    He had also claimed that it was a conspiracy of the TMC as the ruling party in West Bengal was trying to tarnish the BJP-led Union government image with a claim that the Centre has provided fake vaccines.

    “We apprehend that the West Bengal government and the ruling party have hatched a larger conspiracy to implicate the Centre.

    They are helping people with disputable identity to organise camps where fake jabs were administered to defame the Narendra Modi regime.

    “If there was any adverse impact on people who were inoculated, the TMC will blame the Centre for providing fake vaccines,” the BJP leader had said.

    According to police officials,Deb allegedly had financially duped several people in Kolkata by impersonating as a joint commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

    On his social media accounts, he had posted several pictures of organising medical camps and participating in government programmes.

  • Fake vaccination: Police forms SIT, BJP demands CBI probe as Trinamool denies link

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The raging controversy over the fake COVID-19 vaccination camps in parts of Kolkata on Friday snowballed into a political storm ensnaring into it several Trinamool Congress leaders, prompting the opposition BJP to demand a CBI probe into a “larger conspiracy” in the case.

    The Kolkata Police formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the joint police commissioner (Crime) to investigate how the main accused Debanjan Deb who, impersonating as an IAS officer, organised COVID-19 vaccination camps where around 2000 people were suspected to have administered fake doses.

    “We have formed an SIT to probe into the matter. Senior officers of the Detective Department are there in the team,” a senior Kolkata police officer told reporters here.

    The incident triggered a political storm after purported photographs and videos of the arrested person along with several TMC leaders and ministers at various programmes came in public domain.

    PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the photographs or videos.

    According to police officials, Deb allegedly had financially duped several people in Kolkata by impersonating as a joint municipal commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

    On his social media accounts, he had posted several pictures of organising medical camps and participating in government programmes.

    The TMC leadership, however, denied any involvement in the matter.

    “We are politicians and attend several programmes every day. Many people come to us and click pictures. It is not always possible to ascertain their identity. The allegations against our leaders are baseless and politically motivated,” senior TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim said.

    After its defeat in the assembly polls, the BJP was looking for an issue to corner the TMC government and is quick to grab it and demanded a CBI probe to look into the matter.

    It is a conspiracy of the TMC as it is trying to tarnish the BJP-led Union government with a claim that it has provided fake vaccines, claimed Suvendu Adhikari, leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

    “We apprehend that the West Bengal government and the ruling party have hatched a large conspiracy to implicate the Centre. They are helping people with disputable identity to organise camps where fake jabs were administered to defame the Narendra Modi regime.”

    “If there was any adverse impact on people who were inoculated, the TMC will blame the Centre for providing fake vaccines,” he said.

    Adhikari led a BJP delegation to Swasthya Bhawan, the state health department headquarters, and questioned officials how a person impersonating as an IAS officer has been organising vaccination camps remained off the radar of the police and the department for so long.

    “The fake IAS officer organised several camps and brought busloads of people from other areas. How can it be that he was not caught earlier? Was he being shielded by the ruling party? It is a large conspiracy. Only a probe by a large agency like the CBI can unravel the truth,” he said.

    The ruling TMC dubbed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated.

    “If just a photograph proves someone guilty, several BJP leaders should be put behind bars for having being photographed with several scamsters. The police, in this case, arrested the prime accused and will unravel the truth,” senior TMC leader Tapas Ray said.

    Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra said that the organisation of fake COVID-19 vaccination camps by a man pretending to be an IAS officer is an act of a “distorted mind”.

    “What Debanjan has done is very inhuman. It can only be done by one with mental distortion,” Mitra told reporters.

    A PIL was filed before the Calcutta High Court on Friday seeking an investigation into the vaccination fraud by an independent probe agency.

    The police arrested Deb on Wednesday for allegedly posing as an IAS officer and organising a COVID-19 vaccination camp in Kasba, where actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty also got her jab.

    Chakraborty, who was invited to attend the camp, said she became suspicious about the vaccination process as she did not receive the customary SMS sent to people after they were administered a dose and informed the police.

    During a search in Deb’s office, police seized several vials of an antibiotic injection used for many bacterial infections and other items that were sent for tests.

    It was also found that fake labels of Covishield were pasted on the vials of Amikacin injections used for a number of bacterial infections.

    Fake logos, letterheads, and pads of the KMC were also seized from his office.

    On what could be the purpose of Deb in holding such free camps, a senior Kolkata Police official said it is yet to be known, but he might have political connections that helped him in organising those camps.

    The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started an internal inquiry into the matter and is also spotting people who have taken vaccines from his camps.

    Deb used to travel in a large car with a fake logo of the state government and a personal security officer.