Date:12/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/12/stories/2006041215550400.htm

New Delhi

CBI plea for closure of case rejected

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A Special court for CBI cases here has turned down a plea by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to close a case of criminal conspiracy and corruption against six former Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) engineers saying that there was enough evidence on record to proceed in the matter.

Special Judge Vinod Goel directed the investigating agency to initiate a fresh probe into the case.

In its closure report filed in 2004, CBI had said that no irregularity or violation of rules was noticed in the conduct of these officials in the discharge of their official duty.

CBI charged then West Zone Executive Engineer Prem Chand Meena, Assistant Engineers C.S. Bhola and M.P. Pawar, and three Junior Engineers R.P. Wadhwa, S. Dabas and Pawan Gupta with entering into a criminal conspiracy with private company Messrs Essco Traders.

The company was awarded a contact to repair drains and roads at Sewa Park Colony in West Delhi, and alleged embezzled the money without doing even an inch of repair work between 1998-2002.

In a raid conducted at residential premises of C.S. Bhola in 2002, the investigating agency had recovered Rs.26.32 lakhs in cash; Indira Vikas Patras of Rs.10.9 lakhs; National Saving Certificates of Rs. 3.20 lakhs; Fixed Deposit Receipts of Rs. 13.47 lakhs, investments papers of UTI worth Rs. 3 lakhs and a bank balance of Rs. 25.96 lakhs.