Srinagar court declares former ADG proclaimed offender

The CJM also directed that the order declaring Sethi a proclaimed offender be published in newspapers so that it receives wide publicity.

The order comes a day before the CBI is to present a status report on the investigation before the Division Bench of the J-K High Court which is monitoring the case. The HC had taken suo moto cognisance of the scandal after it was broken by The Indian Express on April 29.

‘‘The CBI was forced to seek the proclamation of the order after Anil Sethi consistently refused to surrender after notice was served on him,’’ Assistant Solicitor General and CBI counsel Shabir A Naik said. ‘‘The CBI waited for long but now the agency’s patience has run out.’’

The CJM’s order, Naik said, would help the CBI take tough action against Sethi. ‘‘There could now be a move to attach his property,’’ he said. ‘‘The publication of the order in newspapers would further squeeze his space. He can now even be held by any civilian and handed over to the CBI. Besides, even the person who gives him shelter is equally culpable and liable to be arrested.’’

The order came after the CBI reportedly failed to catch Sethi despite various raids across Srinagar and Jammu. The agency has already arrested Deputy Inspector General of Police K S Padhi, who surrendered before the agency after the CJM issued a warrant against him.

Sethi, sources say, figures prominently in the list of persons named by the victim. His decision not to give himself up has cast him in further bad light, making him ‘‘the centre of suspicion’’.

This isn’t the first controversy surrounding the former J-K additional advocate general. At the time his father was the Accountability Commission chairman, Sethi was caught in a sting operation accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh for allegedly hushing up the multi-crore J-K Panchayat Electrification scam which his father was probing. He was subsequently stripped of the post of additional advocate general.