Court asks CBI to return documents seized during Delhi secretariat raid

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday came under a scathing attack from a Delhi court which directed it to return documents sought by the Delhi government seized during recent raids on the office of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s principal secretary, saying the agency 'cannot be clothed with divine powers' to flout its own rules.

"The CBI cannot retain the documents in the garb of the argument that investigation is in progress without whispering the fact in what manner they are related to the present case (against principal secretary Rajendra Kumar)," Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Jain said.

"The acceptance of vague reasons like investigation is still in progress implies that CBI is recognised with unbridled power to investigate even in violation of the relevant laws and regulations," he said.

"The seizure of the present documents in question is in utter violation to the clause 14.19 of the CBI manual. Needless to say, clauses of CBI manual are binding upon the CBI," the judge said.

Directing the agency to return the documents as sought by the Delhi government, he said ‘any recognition of absolute immunity and unlimited powers will tantamount to recognition of 'divine power' which no authority on earth can enjoy.

The court said that the CBI manual is binding upon the agency and in the garb of argument that the investigation is in progress, it cannot seize documents which are not related to the case.

The judge said if the CBI is not able to disclose the reason why they want to retain these documents, then they have no right to keep them.

"The CBI utterly failed to disclose the reasons of retention of the documents in its reply as well as during the arguments before the court. The CBI was unable to show any relation of these seized documents with present investigation," the court said.

The court in its 36-page order said proceedings initiated by the CBI against public servants appear to be in 'haste' as no preliminary inquiry was carried out.

"In this scenario, when the public servant while discharging his official duty misuses power and when there is no direct allegation of pecuniary advantage, then some sort of preliminary inquiry is required. However in present case, the FIR is registered on oral information. Thus, the proceedings initiated by the CBI appear to be in haste," it said.

The judge said the CBI 'in the garb of the search warrant, cannot seize the documents which are not in any way related to the case and the documents seized in this manner is clearly an abuse of power'.

"Using of that power by court cannot be held to be interference in the investigation, that is why the apex court has held that if the police transgresses the circumscribed limits, and improperly and illegally exercising its investigatory power in breach of any statutory provision then court on being approached by the aggrieved person can redress the same," it further said, adding the court had all powers to refrain the CBI from abusing its authority during the search.

The court, however, rejected the prayer of the Delhi government for stringent action against the CBI officials who have seized the documents in alleged violation of the provisions of the CBI manual, saying it was devoid of merits.

Disposing of the application, the court said if the CBI required any of the released documents during the probe, it was at liberty to seize it back in accordance with law.

It said the CBI was, however, at liberty to retain photocopies of these documents and directed the Delhi government to depute a responsible officer to sign and stamp on those photocopies to avoid any dispute.

It also directed the Delhi government to maintain the sanctity of the original documents released by CBI and said the agency was also at liberty to inspect the original papers any point of time by visiting the applicant's office.

The court observed that even after a month of the probe, the CBI has failed to say how these documents were related to the allegations against Rajendra Kumar or other accused, while the Delhi government has shown that the papers were in no way connected with the case.

The court said when certain power is given to an authority to do something, it includes such incidental or implied powers to ensure that it is done properly.

"Therefore the analogy is clear that if the search warrants were issued by this court then this court has also the power that they should be executed properly and the CBI is not at liberty to abuse it or act arbitrarily," it said.

"There could be an argument in favour of the CBI that investigation is still is infancy therefore, the CBI at this stage cannot predict the outcome. However, this argument will not hold in present circumstances when the CBI even could not tell after one month of investigation that how these documents are related to the allegations against accused Rajendra Kumar or other accused persons," the court said.

Regarding the CBI's contention that there could be forgery of these documents if these are returned, it said ‘this argument on its face appears baseless considering the nature of documents i.e. diaries or the files’.

"Even otherwise any kind of forgery in these documents do not relate to the present investigation," the judge said.

He said there is no dispute that courts have no power to interfere in the probe, neither can it give direction in what manner the police should conduct investigation.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister’s Office for the raid at Delhi Secretariat on the ground that it reports to the PM.

Lashing out at CBI, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia even demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the ‘politically-motivated’ action was carried out at his behest to defame the Chief Minister’s Office.

Sources said the Delhi government is contemplating to move court seeking 'strict action' against the CBI officers who were part of the raid at the Delhi Secretariat on December 15.