NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 23: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Ashok Aggarwal, an IRS officer, who was sent to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on deputation as a deputy director, in Saharanpur today.Giving information on the latest development to the court, the CBI asked the special court to dismiss Aggarwal's anticipatory bail application. ``It stands redundant as the accused has already been arrested,'' said CBI's senior prosecutor, T P Sinha.The CBI told the court:``Aggarwal was arrested from Taj Hotel in Saharanpur at 12:30 pm.'' A fax message, sent by the SP, Saharanpur, was placed before the court when the defence counsel expressed apprehension at the news.Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S S Bal turned down defence counsel Dinesh Mathur's request to consider the anticipatory bail application as a regular one and said the matter will be decided tomorrow.According to the CBI, Ashok Aggarwal had been evading arrest for the last 20 days, since self-proclaimed `super-rich'businessman son of Rajya Sabha MP Veena Verma, Abhishek Verma, was nabbed.Aggarwal has been accused of fabricating a case against Delhi-based jeweller Subhash Barjatya at Verma's behest. Verma had reportedly asked Aggarwal to send a forged fax to Barjatya's office in Maurya Sheraton and later implicate him in a FERA case. CBI investigations revealed that the fax was sent to Barjatya from Verma's office and Aggarwal received Rs 10 lakh in exchange.In the process of evading arrest, Aggarwal reportedly travelled throughout north India. In Saharanpur, he was apprehended while he was staying in a hotel with his family. Aggarwal is yet to give his disclosure statement and will be produced in the court tomorrow.Meanwhile, Abhishek Verma has moved a regular bail application in connection with the Enforcement Directorate case. Verma is presently in judicial custody till December 30. The bail application says that Verma has been embroiled in a false and frivolous case by the ED with malafide motive. ``Theapplicant was whisked away from his house in the early hours of December 16, 1999 to the Enforcement Directorate and was tortured to make a self-incriminating statement to the dictates of the officers,'' the application mentions.The application says that the allegations are untenable as Verma is a Non-Resident Indian and the applicant had clearly stated the same to the officers. It says that since the investigation started in 1997, Verma has cooperated with the investigating agency.``The allegation that Verma did not deliberately appear before the authorities on the dates given in the remand application is a distortion of facts.In any case, the applicant was cooperating with the investigations of the Income-Tax, was almost everyday in the CBI's office and also appeared before the ED authorities on August 31, this year,'' reads the application.
