CBI admits making a "mistake" regarding seizures in Devendra Kumar investigation

In a bizarre twist of things, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday admitted their “mistake” in disclosing the seizure they made after conducting searches at the residence of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Devendra Kumar. In a detailed reply filed before a special CBI court, the newly incorporated investigation team says “they promptly acted” on the complaint raised by Kumar’s son.
 
The CBI’s search list reflects that only one mobile phone was seized during the search operations.

“I took over the case on October 24, 2018. An oral complaint was made by the son of the applicant on October 25, 2018 regarding seizure of several mobile phones, one iPad, and one external hard disc by Inspector Dinesh Kumar without entering the same in the search list and without giving any receipt for the same. We immediately corrected it,” said the investigation officer Satish Dagar.

Here are the documents accessed by Republic TV of the detailed reply filed before a special CBI court:

Read: SENSATIONAL: Amid War In CBI, Republic Accesses Latest Letter By Rakesh Asthana To CVC Alleging Illegal Gratification To CBI Director Alok Verma

The team under Satish Dagar has told the court that Assistant Programmer Banwari Lal was in possession of seven mobile phones, one external disc, one Apple iPad which was given to him by Inspector Dinesh Kumar – the officer who carried out the searches at Devendra Kumar’s residence – for retrieving the data. These items were taken over by the newly formed investigation team on October 26, 2018. Devendra Kumar’s counsel has alleged that the CBI fabricated evidence and was tampering with it.

“They misled the court. Wrong information was provided. What were they doing with my client’s mobile phone? They were not even sealed,” said the Defence counsel.

The newly formed investigation team headed by SP rank officer Satish Dagar was appointed after the interim CBI Chief K Nageshwar Rao took charge. One of the first actions taken by the Interim Chief was to form a new team to probe the allegations levelled against Special Director Rakesh Asthana and his team member in the Moin Qureshi case. This, after the earlier team under Director Alok Verma was disbanded and key officers were packed off to other units of CBI.
 
The seizure controversy in the Devendra Kumar case is one of the many embarrassments country’s top investigating agency had to face in the last few days. In the CBI v/s CBI war, the investigation agency has also told the court that an extortion racket was being operated in the guise of an investigation.