CBI rapped for shoddy probe against its own men

Four persons, including two sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation, have been acquitted in a bribery case by a Delhi court which said the probe by the agency into the matter was done in  a "mindless, disoriented and half-hearted" manner.

Special CBI Judge Dharmesh Sharma let off the accused, CBI inspectors N M Sehrawat and Yogender Kumar, lawyer Sushil Kumar Gupta and Palam village resident Vijender Solanki of the charges of criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and various other offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

"What this court finds most disturbing is that the CBI has committed an absolute hara-kiri in this case. The probe is absolutely mindless, disoriented, half-hearted, blatantly ignoring all the investigative norms and producing an unsavoury result.

"The prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case against all the accused persons namely N M Sehrawat, Sushil Kumar Gupta and Vijender Solanki, while Yogender Kumar is accorded the benefit of doubt. Thus, all the four accused persons are acquitted," the judge said.

According to the prosecution, Gupta and Solanki had approached the CBI inspectors Sehrawat and Yogender to induce Inspector Vishal to accept a bribe of Rs 2 lakh and give

Solanki a clean chit in a Cooperative Group Housing Society (CGHS) scam case.

Yogender had allegedly offered the gratification to CBI Inspector Vishal, who was the investigating officer of the case as he had unearthed records which had been allegedly forged and fabricated by accused Solanki, it had said.

The defence counsel, on the other hand, argued that Solanki and Gupta had been falsely implicated whereas the two inspectors were implicated because of 'over jealous' seniors.

The court while absolving the accused of the charges against them, observed "the least that is expected from a premier agency such as CBI is to take purposeful initiatives to tackle police corruption and in putting in place strategies to detect, investigate and eliminate corruption within its ranks."

The judge directed that a copy of the judgment be sent to the Director, CBI for taking appropriate steps in dealing with matters involving police corruption, and said "a complacent or lame approach to malpractices and misconduct of officers within its rank, as demonstrated in the instant case, does not auger well for its professional reputation."