Date:27/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/27/stories/2008072757210400.htm

New Delhi

Court orders prosecution of ex-Railway Minister

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A designated CBI court on Saturday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation director to initiate a departmental inquiry against the investigating officer who sought closure of a Prevention of Corruption Act case against former Union Railway Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharif.

Special CBI Judge R. K. Yadav said while the minister in question was no longer a holder of public office, the closure report filed by the Investigating Officer on the ground that the Ministry had not sanctioned prosecution indicated that it was being done due to extraneous reasons. The court said sanction is not required for someone who has ceased to be a public servant.

The court also said the CBI should submit a list of witnesses it intended to examine during the trial in 14 days’ time. Taking cognisance of the charge-sheet, the court has also summoned the accused in the case.

Earlier, the CBI had filed a closure report in the case on similar grounds but the court had rejected it.

According to the prosecution, Mr. Sharif, who was Cabinet Minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao Government, had misused his official position by forcing the managing directors of public sector undertakings RITES and IRCON to grant sanction for the travel of three employees of the Ministry to London in 1995. The Minister, who was a cardiac patient, wanted his associates to be with him during his treatment at Princess Grace Hospital in London. He thus caused a loss of Rs.7.52 lakh to the Exchequer, the prosecution alleged.