Second day in a row: CBI’s arrest in SEEPZ ‘bribery’ case called illegal
When she was produced before the special court on Thursday evening, the special court ordered her release, observing that the CBI had not followed procedure as she was not given a notice and a sanction was not taken.
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Special Judge S M Menjoge said that since the case was not one of a trap, the CBI should have given a notice to the accused before arresting her, terming the arrest improper. Nair was released on a bail on furnishing a personal bond.
FOR THE second day in a row, the CBI’s arrest in connection with alleged corruption at SEEPZ, the special economic zone in Andheri, has been termed illegal, for not following procedure. The central agency arrested Rekha Nair, an additional development commissioner, and claimed that Rs 47 lakh were found at her residence.
When she was produced before the special court on Thursday evening, the special court ordered her release, observing that the CBI had not followed procedure as she was not given a notice and a sanction was not taken.
On December 17, the CBI filed an FIR against two Indian Revenue Services (IRS) and seven others, claiming that they were involved in a criminal conspiracy, taking bribes and collecting undue advantage from firms functioning at SEEPZ, for various reasons, including space allotment, sale of duty free imported goods.
The CBI alleged that a private person, Manoj Joglekar, was apprehended, who informed them that Rs 60 lakh were available with him, collected as bribes, meant to be distributed among the officials.
On December 18, six of the arrested accused including the two IRS officers were produced before court. They were ordered to be released as the court noted that the arrest was not legal, as they were detained beyond 24 hours.
On Thursday, the seventh accused, Nair, was produced before court. The CBI told the court that Joglekar had said that of the money collected as bribes, Rs 2 lakh was to be given to Nair, and during her house search, incriminating material was recovered. The CBI also claimed that Rs 47 lakh was recovered from her and the source of the money is yet to be ascertained. The agency sought seven day custody of Nair.
Nair’s lawyers, Rahul Agarwal and Kunal Ambulkar, argued that she was arrested around the same time when the other six were produced in court. They submitted that since Nair was not arrested in a trap laid out to catch her red-handed, as is done in corruption cases, the agency was required to give her a notice prior to arrest and also a sanction is to be taken under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The lawyers also said that since the CBI had already been pulled up on Wednesday for not giving grounds of arrest to the previous accused, they had rectified their mistake and forced Nair to sign handwritten pages of grounds subsequent to her arrest, violating the procedure.
The court had also on Wednesday pulled up the agency for not maintaining the case diary which has details of the probe in the laid down manner but instead bringing loose sheets. On Thursday, the court again found that the case diary was not maintained as required.
Special Judge S M Menjoge said that since the case was not one of a trap, the CBI should have given a notice to the accused before arresting her, terming the arrest improper. Nair was released on a bail on furnishing a personal bond.
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