Dentist withdraws plea for criminal prosecution against NCB chief Rakesh Asthana

A Chandigarh-based dentist Monday withdrew his plea from the Supreme Court seeking directions to investigate and launch criminal prosecution against Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chief Rakesh Asthana on the basis of his allegations. The petitioner told a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Ravindra Bhat that he will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court to pursue the remedy.

The plea by Mohit Dhawan contended that he had filed a complaint against Asthana, who also heads the BSF, before the CBI Director in 2019 but there has been no action or adjudication so far. Dhawan levelled allegations of extortion, harassment and fabrication of documents by police. The petition, filed through advocate Sushil Tekriwal, also sought directions for providing adequate security to the petitioner in view of grave threats.

The plea in the top court alleged that Central Vigilance Commission and the CBI are sitting over the complaint for more then 16 months and not updating the petitioner on the status of the action taken and hence criminal prosecution be initiated against all such erring persons.