The Delhi High Court dismissed Manoj Prasad's bail plea who is alleged of being a middleman in a bribery case involving CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.
Justice Najmi Waziri denied the relief to Prasad, saying the allegations against him were serious in nature and noted the CBI submission that the investigation is at a crucial stage.
The Delhi High Court dismissed Manoj Prasad's bail plea who is alleged of being a middleman in a bribery case involving CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.
Justice Najmi Waziri denied the relief to Prasad, saying the allegations against him were serious in nature and noted the CBI submission that the investigation is at a crucial stage.
Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee and Advocate Rajdipa Behura, appearing for the CBI opposed the bail plea on the grounds that investigation was at a crucial stage and Prasad's case was different from that of other accused.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Prasad, said he has been in custody for nearly a month and he has not been interrogated even once by the CBI during this period.
Prasad had approached the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking bail in the case, following the dismissal of his similar application by a trial court here on November 3.
The trial court had denied bail to Prasad, saying it was not a fit stage to grant him the relief.
Prasad, who was arrested by the CBI on October 17, is currently in judicial custody.
Prasad, Asthana and CBI's Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar have also filed separate petitions in the high court seeking quashing of the FIR against them which are listed for hearing on Wednesday.
In his bail plea before the trial court, Prasad had claimed that he was not required for custodial interrogation and no purpose will be served by keeping him in further custody.
The probe agency had opposed his plea, saying the accused was an influential person and if released on bail, he may tamper with the ongoing probe and flee from justice.
Kumar, who was arrested on October 23, was granted bail by the trial court on October 31.
While hearing Prasad's plea challenging the FIR, the high court had earlier observed that his case was on a different footing from that of Asthana and Kumar.
It had said Prasad was a private person while Asthana and Kumar were public servants and nothing stops the CBI from probing a private individual.
Prasad, a resident of Burj Khalifa in Dubai, has also sought a stay on the investigation by the agency till the disposal of the petition.
The CBI had registered the case against Asthana on the basis of a complaint from Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana, facing probe in the 2017 case allegedly involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
Sana alleged that the officer had helped him get a clean chit.
The agency had arrested Prasad in the case when he returned from Dubai. It was alleged by Sana that Prasad and his brother Somesh had taken Rs 2 crore to arrange a clean chit to him.
The Delhi High Court on October 29 had sought CBI's response on middleman Manoj Prasad's plea seeking quashing of FIR against him in the bribery case involving Special Director Rakesh Asthana and had directed CBI to file a reply on Prasad's plea on or before October 31.
The CBI had on October 15 registered the FIR against Asthana for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 2 crore from Hyderabad-based businessman Sana Sathish Babu which was given through two middlemen Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad to sabotage the probe against meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
On August 24, Asthana, in his complaint to the Cabinet Secretary, had levelled allegations against Verma that he got a bribe of Rs two crore from Sana to help him get some relief from questioning in the matter.
(With inputs from agencies)