Clean chit for Rakesh Asthana as CBI files first chargesheet against Manoj Prasad

New Delhi: After having received four deadlines from the Delhi High Court to finish the probe into the bribery allegations against former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana, the central agency has now filed its first chargesheet in the high-profile case that led to several months of infighting among top agency officials in October 2018. The Central Bureau of Investigation has given a clean chit to Asthana and all other public officials who had been implicated in the case initially.

The CBI has filed a 332-page chargesheet against accused Manoj Prasad and told a special CBI court here that their probe will continue to establish the role of two other accused in the case - Prasad's brother Someshwar Srivastava and Someshwar's father-in-law Sunil Mittal. The agency submitted that in the probe conducted so far, no role of any public officials, including that of then arrested Dy SP Devender Kumar and current RAW chief Samant Kumar Goel, whose name had come up in the case.

Filing the chargesheet before a special CBI court here, the agency submitted that charges had been filed against Prasad for his alleged role in extorting money from complainant Satish Sana Babu under the false pretext of it being on behalf of senior public officials in India to get him relief in the Moin Qureshi case. The agency said that after going through mobile phone records, including WhatsApp data of the accused, it was established that neither Asthana nor any other public official was in touch with them.

The CBI has listed 76 prosecution witnesses in the chargesheet against Prasad of which 42 have recorded their statements under Section 161 of the CrPC.

Sources in the agency have said their investigation had found no evidence against any of the public officials named in the case, including Asthana, Kumar and Goel. They added that Someshwar and Manoj had allegedly conspired with Mittal to extort money from the complainant by making false claims.

Earlier, it was reported that Satish Sana's claims in his complaint had appeared truthful based on the Polygraph Test (Lie-Detector Test) conducted on him. His complaint said that both Prasad and Someshwar had claimed to know Asthana. He then added that Prasad had demanded a bribe, purportedly on behalf of Asthana.

However, court documents filed by the CBI, which are in possession of Millennium Post, said the Polygraph Test conducted on Someshwar had shown that he was being "deceptive". The CBI had said the forensic analysis of the test showed Someshwar "is deceptive in various aspects relevant to the case and is not revealing the correct information". Polygraph Tests are not admissible evidence in court and can be conducted only with the consent of the person taking it. Prasad had denied consent for the test.

As for Someshwar and Mittal, the CBI said it is still awaiting responses to Letter Rogatory (LRs) sent to the UAE before proceeding with leads pertaining to the two.

Meanwhile, the CBI is expected to appear before the Delhi High Court today (Wednesday) after the court had strongly rebuked the agency for not being able to complete the investigation in time. The High Court had given multiple deadlines to the agency and at the last deadline directed the CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla to appear in court if the probe could not be completed by February 10.

The bribery case had resulted in a bitter turf war between then Director Alok Verma and Asthana amid serious corruption allegation that extended even to Samant Kumar Goel, who was then the number 2 at India's intelligence agency - Research & Analysis Wing.

Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana Babu had claimed that the CBI was harassing him by calling him with respect to the Moin Qureshi case in which another former agency Director AP Singh is accused. He then claimed that Prasad and Someshwar met him in Dubai and offered to arrange a deal with Asthana, where he would not be bothered in exchange for a Rs 5 crore bribe payment.

The case had shaken India's premier investigative agency in 2018, after which both Verma and Asthana were removed and a spate of transfers was inflicted upon senior officials of the agency.