After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) moved the Delhi High Court against a trial court order, a Single Judge Bench on Thursday refrained from passing an interim order to stay directions asking the CBI to return the documents it seized during a raid at the office of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar on December 15.
However, the court issued notices to the Delhi government and Mr. Kumar on the CBI’s petition seeking quashing of the Special Judge’s order of Wednesday, which had rapped the premier investigating agency for flouting its own manual by seizing documents without showing how they were related to the alleged graft case.
The Bench of Justice P.S. Teji, which heard the matter after CBI counsel Sonia Mathur mentioned it before a Division Bench earlier in the day, asked both the respondents to file their reply by Friday. The CBI will file a rejoinder by Saturday and the court will hear the case again on next Monday.
The CBI contended that the Special Judge had failed to appreciate that the Delhi government had already obtained attested photocopies of the documents seized, rendering the order for returning the documents “wholly misconceived”.
Ms. Mathur requested the court to allow the CBI to file documents in a sealed cover, which the Delhi government’s counsel Dayan Krishnan opposed. Mr. Krishnan said the Delhi government should be heard before any interim order granting relief to CBI was passed.
When the court observed that it wanted to get the government’s reply “in black and white” and did not wish to keep the petition pending for several days, Mr. Krishnan said the Delhi government’s response would be filed by Friday.
The CBI had raided the Delhi Secretariat on December 15 last year, while investigating corruption charges against senior bureaucrat Mr. Kumar. The FIR suggested that Mr. Kumar and other public servants had provided favours to some private firms.
The court of CBI Special Judge Ajay Kumar Jain had on Wednesday directed the CBI to return the documents seized during the controversial raid, while disposing of an application of the Delhi government. The court had made some strict remarks on the manner in which the search was carried out.
The CBI’s petition said the trial court’s order had “curtailed its right to investigate the matter and jeopardised the fair outcome of the case”. The court’s observations would irreparably prejudice the agency’s case at the very threshold, it added.
The documents seized during the search were crucial for the investigation of the case to prove the involvement of the accused, said the petition. The CBI Special Judge had quoted the probe agency’s manual, while pointing out that the Investigating Officer should seize and requisition the records only if they were essential for investigation.
