Assets case: 37 yrs & ‘shoddy’ CBI probe later, ex-IAS found unfit to stand trial, his brother acquitted

The court of Special Judge Anil Antil of Rouse Avenue, however, acquitted Ahluwalia’s brother, Inderjit Singh, in the case. In its 97-page order issued on July 12, the court noted: “When the system fails, the truth remains hidden in the shudders of injustice”.

“The main accused Sh. Surendra Singh Ahluwalia (A-1), now aged about 90 years, became unstable and of unsound mind and was declared ‘unfit to stand trial’ (trial qua him already stands adjourned indefinitely),” the court said.

Ahluwalia, Singh and two others were accused in the case registered by the CBI in 1987.

According to the agency, the seeds of crime were sown at a Bank of Baroda Branch in Kohima, Nagaland, when Ahluwalia was posted there. Ahluwalia had acquired around Rs 68 lakh worth of assets – which the agency alleged were disproportionate to his known sources of income. Various accounts were opened in the names of fictitious persons and funds were routed from the BoB branch in Nagaland to two different bank branches of New Bank of India in Delhi.