The Special Court in Delhi has released three accused in a bribery case lodged against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2018. The court stated that there was no evidence to prove that the bribe money was paid to any CBI official, and the series of transactions alleged by the investigating agency were not supported by evidence. The court also said that the mobile phones of many people, including high-ranking officers, were illegally tapped without any approval, compromising national security. The court further added that the mandatory requirements laid down in the rules of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1985, were not fulfilled, and no reliance could be placed on the audio conversations contained in these calls. The CBI had initially named its own Special Director Rakesh Asthana and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Devender Kumar in the bribery case, but the court, in March 2020, had said there was no sufficient evidence to summon them.
The court, after evaluating the evidence, witness statements, and documents, concluded that there were inherent contradictions in the complainant’s statement, crucial links were missing, and there was no independent evidence to corroborate the allegations. Therefore, the court found the allegations to be inherently improbable. Special CBI Judge Vinay Kumar Gupta has dismissed the charges against three individuals, Prasad (alleged middleman), his brother Someshwar Srivastava, and father-in-law Sunil Mittal, in the bribery case. The dismissal was made during the stage of framing of charges, which is a legal procedure where a court determines whether there is sufficient evidence to charge the accused and proceed with a trial. In this case, the judge has determined that there is not enough evidence to charge the three accused individuals with the crime of bribery.
