SC refuses to interfere with journalist's arrest by CBI

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the arrest of journalist Upendra Rai by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his alleged involvement in dubious financial transactions.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said it would not like to interfere in the arrest, saying it has not gone through the application filed by Rai seeking protection.

The CBI had on Thursday arrested Delhi-based journalist Upendra Rai for allegedly indulging in dubious financial transactions and getting an airport access pass made by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security by furnishing false information.

Rai claimed he has been framed in the case as he has been writing against an Enforcement Directorate official who was part of the team probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.

He will be produced before a trial court in New Delhi on Friday.

Rai was questioned at the agency headquarters along with two others for the entire day before being arrested, officials had said on Thursday.

Prasun Roy, chief security officer of Air One Aviation Pvt Ltd, was also booked by the CBI in the case, they had said.

The probe agency had carried out searches at eight locations in Lucknow, Noida, Delhi and Mumbai.

In its first information report, the agency alleged that going by the value of transactions above Rs 1 lakh during 2017, Rai's accounts received Rs 79 crore while Rs 78.51 crore was debited from it during the same period.