Rajasthan
Fir: Jolt To Acb As Hc Quashes Fir Against Ex-ceo Of Biofuel Body | Jaipur News
JAIPUR: In a setback to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the high court has quashed the agency’s FIR against former chief executive officer-cum project director of Bio-Fuel Authority of Rajasthan, Surendra Singh Rathore.
The ACB had arrested Rathore alleging that took bribe of Rs 5 lakh on April 7, 2022, and searches at his house led to the recovery of Rs 3.66 crore in cash and assets worth Rs 12 crore, disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The single bench of Justice Birendra Kumar while quashing the FIR said preliminary inquiry before registration of FIR was a must in the facts of the case but the authorities acted in casual and negligent manner in getting the FIR registered, without satisfying themselves about the genuineness of the claim and commission of offence alleged against the petitioner.
The court cited several instances where the investigating authorities were at fault. It said the authorities had taken the assessment period only from 2000 to April 7, 2022, when the petitioner held a public office in Rajasthan, but according to the petitioner, he worked in the Indian Air Force and retired in the year 2000 and thereafter he joined his new assignment. If a preliminary inquiry would have been conducted, the authorities would have considered the income and savings of the petitioner prior to 2000, said Deepak Chauhan, counsel for the petitioner.
The court observed that the FIR alleged the petitioner spent Rs 10 lakh during his visit abroad, but the petitioner stated on oath that he never visited abroad and the respondents in their counter affidavit took the stand that the expenditure was, in fact, on account of the petitioner’s son who went abroad for studies.
The court observed that the FIR stated that the petitioner spent about Rs 20 lakh on the education of his son in a foreign country, but the petitioner spent that money from a bank loan.
The ACB had arrested Rathore alleging that took bribe of Rs 5 lakh on April 7, 2022, and searches at his house led to the recovery of Rs 3.66 crore in cash and assets worth Rs 12 crore, disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The single bench of Justice Birendra Kumar while quashing the FIR said preliminary inquiry before registration of FIR was a must in the facts of the case but the authorities acted in casual and negligent manner in getting the FIR registered, without satisfying themselves about the genuineness of the claim and commission of offence alleged against the petitioner.
The court cited several instances where the investigating authorities were at fault. It said the authorities had taken the assessment period only from 2000 to April 7, 2022, when the petitioner held a public office in Rajasthan, but according to the petitioner, he worked in the Indian Air Force and retired in the year 2000 and thereafter he joined his new assignment. If a preliminary inquiry would have been conducted, the authorities would have considered the income and savings of the petitioner prior to 2000, said Deepak Chauhan, counsel for the petitioner.
The court observed that the FIR alleged the petitioner spent Rs 10 lakh during his visit abroad, but the petitioner stated on oath that he never visited abroad and the respondents in their counter affidavit took the stand that the expenditure was, in fact, on account of the petitioner’s son who went abroad for studies.
The court observed that the FIR stated that the petitioner spent about Rs 20 lakh on the education of his son in a foreign country, but the petitioner spent that money from a bank loan.
