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CBI gets a rap for shabby probe into Kesri's affairs

The Delhi High Court has severely criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation for sloppy work in the case against former Congress president Sitaram Kesri, charged with amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income and bribing his way into the Rajya Sabha.

A division bench comprising Justices Arun Kumar and Manmohan Sarin questioned the CBI's status report.

"How can you file this as a mindless exercise?" the judges asked the CBI superintendent.

The bench found that the CBI's probe of the All-India Congress Committee's income-tax returns did not reflect anything to establish that Kesri's household expenses were borne by the party. This was contrary to what the Congress president had submitted to the court.

''This falsifies the submission of Mr Kesri that the expenditure on him was incurred from the AICC,'' the judges observed.

The judges questioned the CBI's conclusion that details of the expenditure on Kesri were not reflected in the AICC's returns because there was no income-tax rebate on it.

''The issue is not whether the AICC was entitled for a rebate, but whether the financial records of the AICC carry any notes regarding the expenses made on Mr Kesri,'' the bench observed.

It was submitted during the hearing that the AICC had incurred an expenditure of Rs 2.5 million on managing Kesri's household.

The court is hearing a public-interest petition filed by Patna-based journalist Madhuresh Kumar, seeking Kesri's prosecution for amassing property in the names of family members, relatives, and friends. He also alleged that Kesri had bribed 22 Bihar MLAs to get elected to the upper house of Parliament in 1988 and 1994.

The court was of the view that the CBI had not looked into the AICC accounts properly. It directed the CBI SP to look into the matter more thoroughly and let it know his findings by November 10.

UNI

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