C. Rajan, former Additional Director General of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and his official driver M. Murugesan have been acquitted in a case booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of accepting illegal gratification.
Mr. Rajan had worked in different capacities in various departments before he was transferred to the DRI. In March 2012, He and his driver were arrested by the CBI on charges of demanding and accepting illegal gratification. The CBI charged that Mr. Rajan and Mr Murugesan had conspired and demanded an illegal gratification of ₹10 lakh and an Apple i-Pad from a complainant for defreezing a bank account of a businessman operating from Myanmar. It said Mr. Murugesan had accepted a sum of ₹2 lakh and the Apple i-Pad as advance on March 6, 2012 from the businessman on behalf of Mr. Rajan. The two were charged under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code.
In this case, the specific defence taken by Mr. Rajan was that he had been targeted by the big corporates for having issued notices to them for large-scale duty evasions.
At the conclusion of the trial, XIII Additional Special Judge for CBI Cases A.K. Mehbub Alikhan pointed out contradictions by witnesses and held that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the guilt of the accused.
The Judge said there was absolutely no material to show that there was any demand or acceptance of a bribe by A1 Rajan or by A2 Murugesan on behalf of Mr. Rajan.
