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In a corruption case involving the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Director Rakesh Asthana, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of a middleman, Manoj Prasad.
Observing that the allegations against Prasad were serious in nature and the investigation in the case was at a crucial stage, Justice Najmi Waziri dismissed the bail plea.
On October 15, the CBI had registered a case against Asthana for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 2 crore from Sana Sathish Babu which was given through two middlemen -- Manoj Prasad and Somesh Prasad -- to wreck the probe against meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
On October 17, Manoj Prasad was arrested.
On October 22, CBI's Deputy Superintendent of Police Devender Kumar, who is accused of falsifying records of the corruption case, was arrested. However, on October 31, he was granted bail by a trial court.
Kumar was an Investigating Officer in a case against Qureshi, who is facing multiple cases of money laundering and corruption.
CBI chief Alok Verma, on October 24, was divested of his charge and Joint Director M. Nageshwar Rao was made the Interim Director.
Asthana was also divested of all his supervisory responsibilities.
The government took the decision after Verma and Asthana accused each other of taking bribes.
(With IANS inputs)
