Delhi High Court posts for March 28 CBI plea for more time to probe Rakesh Asthana case

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday posted for hearing on March 28 a CBI plea seeking more time to conclude its probe against the agency's former Special Director Rakesh Asthana and Deputy SP Devender Kumar in a bribery case.

Justice Mukta Gupta posted the matter for March 28 as CBI had not served notice to the defence counsel.

During the course of the hearing, the probe agency also submitted a status report of the investigation carried out by it in a sealed cover. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikram Banerjee was representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On January 11, the court had dismissed pleas filed by Asthana and Kumar seeking quashing of an FIR against them in the bribery case.

READ | EXCLUSIVE: Scam-by-scam, Rakesh Asthana Replied To Each Of Dr Subramanian Swamy's "baseless And Fanciful" Allegations Against Him In A Letter To The Cabinet Secretary. Read Here

Asthana, the then number two in CBI, had also sought liberty to appeal against the high court order before the Supreme Court, which was granted.

The high court had directed the agency to conclude its investigation against Asthana and Kumar, among others, within 10 weeks.

The FIR was registered against Asthana and others after a preliminary enquiry by CBI.

The investigating agency filed an FIR against Asthana for allegedly accepting a bribe from a businessman, who was connected to a case against controversial meat exporter Moin Akhtar Qureshi.

Asthana was heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was probing the Qureshi case.

The case against Asthana, Kumar and others was registered based on a complaint received from Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana on October 15 last year.

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