News Analysis India

Tag: CBI

  • Sheena Bora case: Approver Shyamwar Rai applies for bail

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Accused turned approver in the Sheena Bora murder case Shyamwar Rai has filed a bail plea from prison before a special CBI court here.

    Special CBI Judge JC Jagdale directed the prosecution to take note of Rai’s application and submit its reply by January 19.

    His two earlier bail pleas, on the ground that he could contract COVID-19 while in prison, were rejected.

    Rai, a driver of co-accused Indrani Mukerjea, was held in an illegal firearm case in 2015 and he then told police about the Sheena Bora murder case.

    Bora was killed in April, 2012 and her body burnt in a forest in neighbouring Raigad district, as per police.

  • CBI arrests wife of Rose Valley Group chairman Gautam Kundu in chit fund case

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested Subhra Kundu, wife of the jailed owner of Rose Valley Group chairman Gautam Kundu, from Kolkata in connection with the probe into the multi-crore chit fund scam, sources in the agency said.

    Sleuths of Economic Offences Wing of the CBI apprehended Subhra Kundu and will take her to Bhubaneswar after obtaining transit remand from a court in Kolkata, they said.

    The case was registered in the Odisha capital.

    She was wanted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the case.

    The Rose Valley group allegedly cheated thousands of depositors, promising abnormally high returns on investments in its illegal schemes.

    According to CBI sources, the amount of money garnered by the group through such schemes could be more than Rs 12,000 crore.

    Rose Valley had also made substantial investments in hotels and resorts across the country, they said.

    Subhra Kundu was running a jewellery chain, Adrija, which has been sealed since the investigation started.

    The ED, which is looking into the money laundering aspect of the scam, issued a look-out notice against her in November 2019.

    Her husband, Gautam Kundu, was arrested by the ED in March 2015 on the basis of a complaint filed by SEBI, and he has been in jail since then.

    So far, the ED has attached more than Rs 2,300 crore properties of Rose Valley.

  • JK Bank’s executive manager, 5 others booked for depositing Rs 12.84 crore in banned currency

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Over four years after the demonetisation exercise, the CBI has booked the executive manager of a bank, three firm proprietors and two persons for depositing Rs 12.84 crore in banned currency which was later transferred to different accounts through net banking as legitimate money, officials said.

    Based on “source information” received on December 10 last year, the CBI has filed an FIR saying Rahul Chaudhary and Dushyant Chaudhary were operating accounts of Shiva Trading Company, Divyanshi Sales Corporation and Shyama Trading company in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s Ghaziabad branch.

    Taking advantage of their rapport with executive manager Netar Sabharwar, the Chaudhary duo were allegedly operating the accounts instead of their proprietors, also named accused in the FIR, officials said.

    The CBI has alleged that the accused duo in connivance with proprietors — Pankaj Kumar of Shiva Trading, Vikas Rathi of Divyanshi Sales and Ghanshyam Patel of Shyama Trading — and Sabharwar changed registered phone numbers in the companies’ accounts for SMS alert service to be able to use them for fund transfers, they said.

    After the government declared Rs 1,000 and old Rs 500 notes as illegal tender on November 8, 2016, Sabharwar allegedly allowed Rahul and Dushyant Chaudhary to make Rs 12.84 crore cash deposit in the three companies’ accounts in violation of bank norms and RBI instructions related to cash deposits, they said.

    Using the changed phone numbers, the duo transferred this amount to various bank accounts through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), they said.

  • CBI files charge sheet against four cops for framing bus conductor in murder of Gurugram school student

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: After nearly three years of probe, the CBI has filed a charge sheet against four police personnel of Haryana for allegedly framing a bus conductor in the killing of a seven-year-old student of a private school in Gurugram in September 2017, officials said on Friday.

    The student was killed on September 8 allegedly by a senior student.

    The CBI filed its supplementary charge sheet in the case, commonly known as the Ryan murder case, before a special CBI court in Panchkula against the then SHO of Bhondsi police station Narender Singh Khatana, Sub-Inspector Shamsher Singh, ASI Subhash Chand and ACP (Sohna) Barem Singh.

    They were charged under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 166A (disobeying directions under law), 167 (Public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), 330 (Police officer torturing someone to confess a crime) and 506 (criminal intimidation), officials said.

    A Class 2 student, named Prince by the court to protect his identity, was found near the toilet of the school with his throat slit on September 8 morning within an hour of his father leaving him at the school.

    The local police had arrested bus conductor Ashok Kumar of the school and shown recovery of a knife from him claiming it to be the murder weapon.

    The police had claimed solving the heinous crime quickly and put the blame on the conductor who was also paraded before the media by senior officials of Gurugram police.

    In a twist to the case, the CBI debunked the claims of police and found the conductor to be innocent.

    The agency in its meticulous probe examined teachers, students, and scanned local markets which led them to a Class 11 student of the school, named Master Bholu by the court to protect his identity.

    The juvenile was apprehended in the murder of the eight-year-old student on November 7, 2017, CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.

    “It was revealed during CBI investigation that the conductor earlier arrested by Gurugram Police was not involved in this murder case. Further investigation of the case was continued. During further investigation, the alleged role of said police officials came to light and supplementary charge sheet was therefore filed against them,” he said.

    According to the agency, the Class 11 student, believed to be weak in his studies, allegedly slit the victim’s throat to get the school to declare a holiday in order to defer a scheduled parent-teacher meeting (PTM) and an examination.

    The accused is facing murder trial as the CBI kept investigating the role of police personnel in framing Kumar.

  • 60 charge-sheeted by CBI in Vyapam scam related to PMT-2011 case in Madhya Pradesh

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: As many as 60 accused were charge-sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-layered Vyapam scam related to the state quota allotment-Pre Medical Test 2011 case before a special CBI court in Gwalior on Thursday.

    Those charge-sheeted also included the directors of medical colleges and former director of state medical education departments, besides other influential individuals.

    Importantly, none of the charge-sheeted accused were summoned by the premier investigation agency in compliance with a MP High Court-Gwalior Bench’s Wednesday order, directing the Special Court not to insist upon the personal appearance of more than five accused before the trial court on any particular date.

    The 2011 Vyapam scam related case will next be heard by the Special CBI court in Gwalior on January 28.

    According to informed sources, the PMT-2011 related case is different from other PMT related cases, as the private medical colleges were the actual beneficiaries in this case.

    According to the charge-sheet submitted by the CBI in the case, the high rankers in the PMT-2011 exam (conducted for admission to medical colleges in the state) first qualified and got selected for admission in the medical colleges. But in collusion with the private medical colleges they vacated the seats owing to which the government quota seats remained vacant.

    The vacant seats were then filled by private medical colleges on the last day of admission allegedly through low scoring candidates, who had paid huge sums to the concerned colleges.

    Importantly, a division bench of MP High Court in Gwalior had on Wednesday ordered the Special CBI court not to insist upon the personal appearance of more than five accused before the trial court on any particular date.

    The order was passed by the HC on Wednesday while disposing of a petition filed by the accused named in the CBI’s charge-sheet filed on Thursday.

    In the petition before the HC, the accused named in the CBI charge-sheet had submitted that they have been summoned to appear together on the said date at one place.

    It could lead to congregation in the Gwalior District Court premises, which increases the threat of a Covid-19 spread.

  • Engineer accused of child sex abuse sent to CBI custody for week by Uttar Pradesh court

    By PTI
    BANDA: A court here on Wednesday granted the CBI seven days’ remand of a UP irrigation department junior engineer who was arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting children for the last 10 years and selling videos and photographs on the darknet to paedophiles across the globe.

    Additional District and Sessions Judge (POCSO Act) Mohd Rizwan Ahmed sent the accused Ram Bhawan to CBI custody for a week from Thursday.

    The court accepted a plea for Bhawan’s physical, blood and voice tests, Additional District Government counsel (ADGC) Manoj Dixit said, adding these will be conducted at AIIMS, New Delhi.

    Earlier the court had given five days’ custody to the CBI for collecting evidence in November, he said.

    The arrested junior engineer, a resident of Chitrakoot district, is alleged to have victimised about 50 children in the age group of 5-16 years in the districts of Chitrakoot, Banda and Hamirpur.

    The CBI had lodged a case against him on October 31 and arrested him on November 16.

    He is presently lodged in Banda jail.

    During searches, the CBI had recovered eight mobile phones, around Rs eight lakh in cash, sex toys, laptop and other digital evidence carrying a large amount of child sexual abuse material.

    It is alleged that the junior engineer was indulging in such activities for the last 10 years, mainly contacting and sharing child sexual abuse material with other paedophiles globally using the darknet and cloud services abroad.

    He is understood to have told the investigators that he used to lure the children with mobile phones and other electronic gadgets.

  • Narada sting tape case: Calcutta HC asks CBI to clarify position over chargesheet filing

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the CBI to clarify its position through an affidavit on the filing of chargesheet in the Narada sting tape case in which people resembling Trinamool Congress MP, ministers and MLAs were allegedly seen receiving money in lieu of promised favours.

    A division bench presided over by Chief Justice T B N Radhakrishnan directed that the matter would be taken up for hearing two weeks hence, by which time the CBI will be required to file the affidavit.

    The direction was passed after additional advocate general Abhratosh Majumdar submitted that the CBI has not so far applied to the Assembly Speaker for sanction to prosecute anyone in connection with the Narada sting tapes case.

    Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, appearing for the petitioner in connection with a PIL seeking speedy completion of investigation and trial in the case, submitted that permission is not required from the Speaker of the state Assembly since the alleged acceptance of money had nothing to do with the official discharge of duties of any member accused in the case.

    The CBI counsel, however, stated that permission of the Speaker of the House was necessary before submission of the chargesheet.

    Hearing all the parties, the division bench asked the CBI lawyer to take instructions from the investigating agency and submit an affidavit clarifying its position on the matter.

  • HC directs CBI to hand over case files related to 2015 sacrilege incidents to Punjab Police

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the CBI to hand over all case diaries and papers related to the 2015 sacrilege incidents, including alleged desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, to the Punjab Police within a month.

    The court’s directions came during a hearing on the plea of one of the accused in the sacrilege incidents, Sukhjinder Singh alias Sunny.

    The Punjab government had handed over the probe into the alleged desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and other religious texts of the Sikh faith in 2015 to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police in September 2018 after the state Assembly passed a resolution withdrawing consent to the CBI to investigate these cases, noting lack of progress in the investigation.

    Sukhjinder had challenged the investigation being undertaken by the SIT of the Punjab Police on the ground that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is already seized of the probe, according to a Punjab government statement issued here on Monday.

    The high court rejected Sukhjinder’s plea and asked the CBI to hand over all relevant documents and material in the sacrilege cases to the Punjab Police, it said.

    It further directed the Punjab Police to consider the material handed over by the CBI and file a supplementary challan in the case, for consideration by the trial court.

    Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh termed the high court’s directions as an ‘endorsement’ of the state government’s stand on the investigations into the 2015 sacrilege incidents.

    Amarinder, in a statement, said it was high time the CBI listened to the courts and handed the case files back to the state so that the perpetrators of the crimes could be brought to justice.

    He said his government has been fighting the CBI’s alleged ‘high-handedness’ for more than two years but the agency has ‘failed’ to heed the various directions and orders of the courts in this time.

    The previous SAD-BJP government had handed over three sacrilege cases — theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib from a Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara on June 1, 2015, putting up of hand-written sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on September 25 and torn pages of the holy book being found at Bargari on October 12, 2015 in Faridkot — to the CBI for probe.

    Reiterating his government’s resolve to bring the cases to their “logical conclusion”, the Punjab chief minister said the central agency should respect the verdict of the judiciary and ‘stop overreaching the courts at the behest of its political masters’.

    The Punjab government’s decision to hand over the probe into the desecration of religious texts incidents to the SIT was upheld by the high court on January 25, 2019, after the CBI challenged it.

    In July 2019, the CBI filed its closure report in the CBI court at Mohali, but took a U-turn later praying before the court to keep the report in abeyance and said the investigation was still continuing.

    The CBI’s appeal challenging the 2019 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was dismissed by the Supreme Court in February 2020.

    Even after the dismissal of the appeal, the CBI did not hand over diaries and papers relating to the sacrilege cases to the Punjab police, as per a government statement.

    The Punjab Police SIT had filed a charge-sheet before a trial court in Faridkot in July 2020, which was challenged by Sukhjinder.

    Two persons, who were part of the anti-sacrilege protesters, were killed in the police firing at Behbal Kalan in 2015.

  • Petition to withdraw ban on CBI probe against Life Mission CEO dismissed

    20 October The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed on behalf of the CBI seeking withdrawal of the interim order against the CEO of Life Mission, a residential project in the state, for its investigation. This investigation was to take place in connection with the alleged FCRA violation in connection with the money received for the construction of buildings in Thrissur district.

    Dismissing the petition, the court said the CBI’s plea could be considered after a counter affidavit was filed on the petition of Life Mission. Life Mission has filed a petition challenging the central agency to register an FIR against its unnamed officials.

    The CBI said that due to the restraining order, the agency is unable to collect the life mission files and is unable to collect documents from the state government in connection with the case.

    The case was registered on the basis of a complaint by Congress MLA Anil Akkara. He alleged that the Foreign Fund (Regulation) Act (FCRA) was violated in the funds provided by the UEA aid agency in implementing the housing scheme for the poor.

  • CBI raids four locations in UP and Delhi, Rs 745 crore bank fraud case

    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting raids at four places in Delhi Uttar Pradesh in connection with the Rs 754 crore bank loan fraud case. Gangotri Enterprises Company is accused of usurping banks and investing elsewhere.

    The CBI registered a case against BSP MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari in connection with a bank fraud of Rs 754 crore. Under this, raid work is going on. If media reports are to be believed, Gangotri Enterprises, a company associated with BSP MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari, is being raided today. The case has been registered on the basis of a complaint by the Bank of India-led consortium of banks.