CBI faces HC wrath for ‘procedural lapses’

kolkata: During the hearing of anticipatory bail of Sujoy Krishna Bhadra, one of the accused in the recruitment scam, Calcutta High Court on Friday rapped the CBI on the knuckles for procedural lapses, remarking that the investigating officer (IO) ought to be removed.

The bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth directed the IO of the case to file an affidavit within two weeks explaining why a prayer for ‘shown arrest’ was made a day after a production warrant was issued.

Referring to the apex court judgement in Dhanraj Aswani case where the Supreme Court clarified anticipatory bail rights for accused in custody in another case, Justice Bagchi questioned the deputy solicitor general (DSG) as to how CBI prayed ‘shown arrest’ against Bhadra after a filing a production warrant in the lower court.

Justice Bagchi asked the DSG: “Is he a sub inspector of a local police station? This is the confidence rested in this specialised agency by the High Court in a multi crore teacher scam case where the IO doesn’t know the distinction between production warrant and shown arrest? Or is it some extrajudicial sources which is influencing the wisdom of the officer?... It is either ignorance which betrays constitutional trust in the agency or extrajudicial influence which prompts the officer to forget what is the law? Tell us which one?”

“Wasim Akram Khan (IO) must file an affidavit explaining why he asked for ‘shown arrest’ after a production warrant is issued. Is he trying to assist the accused person? Or your agency is doing an eye wash. Leave the accused if you don’t want to arrest.. come clean breasted. Don’t leave things to defect so the accused can escape between the fingers of law. That’s not the duty of a fair decent agency…Remove this officer from the investigating agency then,” Justice Bagchi told DSG.