Court refuses to drop DA case against Puducherry ex-Chief Secy

A city court has refused to drop criminal proceedings against former Chief Secretary of Puducherry CS Khairwal in a disproportionate assets case, saying proper sanction was granted by the Centre to prosecute him.

The court said the sanction order contained sufficient material to proceed against the accused, a 1974 batch IAS officer, whose services were later terminated during the pendency of the trial. “The sanction order is a speaking one, which shows that there was sufficient material for proceedings against accused CS Khairwal for acquiring disproportionate assets worth Rs 3.15 crore, for which he could not furnish a satisfactory reply,” Special CBI Judge Pitamber Dutt said.

The court also noted that the total income of Khairwal and his family members was computed as Rs 30.7 lakh from all their known sources of income, while the assets acquired by him in 1996 were to the tune of Rs 3.28 crore, to which the accused could not give a satisfactory explanation to CBI.