Court not happy with CBI probe in cash-at-door case

CHANDIGARH: It's official: the CBI has requested the trial court to close last August's cash-at-door case against all suspects for want of government sanction. However, sources said the court expressed its displeasure with the report and issued a notice to complainant, Amrik Singh.
Before issuing the notice, the court had quizzed CBI and pointed out that sanction was required to prosecute only one suspect (a sitting judge) under section 11 of Prevention of Corruption Act.
"The court asked CBI why closure was filed against others when no sanction was required to prosecute those booked under section 12 of the Act," defence counsel N K Nanda. He said the defence has now decided to wait and watch.
The closure report submitted by the agency in a sealed envelope was put before the special CBI court, Chandigarh, recently in city's sessions court.
The court issued a notice to Amrik Singh, who happens to be the peon of sitting judge at whose place the packet containing cash was erroneously delivered, on January 11, 2010. The investigating officer was not present in the court.
It all happened on August 14, 2008, when a packet containing Rs 15 lakh was delivered at a sitting judge's door by Prakash Ram, who was a clerk of then Haryana additional advocate general Sanjeev Bansal. Allegedly, Bansal was to deliver the packet at another sitting judge's residence at the behest of a Delhi-based hotelier Ravinder Singh.
A complaint was lodged by the peon of sitting judge and FIR registered by the Chandigarh police against three accused under sections 8 and 9 of Prevention of Corruption Act along with 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. The case was later transferred to CBI, Delhi.