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Court orders CBI to probe Kesri Jr's finances

The Delhi high court today directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to further probe into whether the source of the huge assets amassed by Amarnath Kesri, son of former Congress president Sitaram Kesri, was relatable to his father and asked the agency to inform within two months if the alleged offence of bribing 22 Bihar legislators warranted registration of a case.

Pronouncing the judgement, a division bench comprising Justices Jaspal Singh and Manmohan Sarin gave a number of directions while disposing of a public interest petition filed by Patna-based freelance journalist Madhuresh Kumar alleging that Kesri had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known source of income and had bribed a few Bihar MLAs during his election to the Rajya Sabha. For Justice Jaspal Singh, this was his last judgment as he is retiring tomorrow.

The bench asked the CBI to inform the income-tax authorities about the unexplained assets of Kesri's son and know from them, within two months of the furnishing of the information, the action taken on it.

The judges directed the agency to intimate the high court if the income tax authorities fail to respond.

The court also asked the CBI to examine the income tax returns of Kesri and the Congress party between September 1988 and November 1996 to know as to whether disbursement of Kesri's household expenses by the party was borne out from there or not. A complete statement was directed to submitted before it.

The six-page judgment said, ''The CBI knows it too well that offering bribe to a public servant was an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Since some MLAs have directly alleged making of such offer in connection with the election of Kesri, should a case be not registered? Let the CBI give further thought to it and let us know the result.''

The court in the process dismissed the petitioner's demand that the probe in the matter should be handed over to some other independent agency or a sitting or retired judge of the high court.

Claiming that the CBI was showing laxity in probing the matter, counsel for the petitioner, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, had demanded that the investigation be handed over to some other agency.

The Congress had filed an affidavit saying that Kesri's household expenses were taken care of by the party and asked him whether the income tax returns can be checked to find out the details regarding this.

Additional Solicitor General Altaf Hussain had replied in the negative when he was asked by the court whether the CBI had scrutinised the income tax returns of the party.

Madhuresh Kumar, in his PIL filed on March 4, 1997, sought initiation of legal proceedings against the former Congress president for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known source of income and bribing the MLAs.

The petitioner had alleged that the MLAs were paid TA/DA in cash instead of cheque as was the practice which had been followed in the past. One such MLA, Madhu Singh, was paid Rs 116,000 in cash on January 3 and February 8, 1992. The payment of TA/DA to legislators was generally made by the state assembly secretariat through cheques.

UNI

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