Ajay Chautala assets case: Court issues bailable warrants against two CBI officers

New Delhi: A special court has issued bailable warrants against two CBI officers for not appearing before it to record evidence in a disproportionate assets case against INLD leader Ajay Chautala. Special Judge Sanjay Garg-I also directed a CBI Joint Director to file an action taken report (ATR) on why summons issued to the agency officials in the case were not forwarded by its senior officers. The court issued bailable warrants and the directions to the Joint Director after being annoyed with the absence of the two CBI officers, who were supposed to appear before it for recording of their deposition as prosecution witnesses. [caption id=“attachment_3007538” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Central Bureau of Investigation logo. AFP[/caption] The court was informed by the prosecutor that one of the officers was busy on official duty while the other was suffering from chikungunya. “I am not satisfied with the request as no formal request forwarded by senior official has been received in the court. Bailable warrant in the sum of Rs 5,000 with notice under CrPC be issued against them, for 26 September,” the judge said. The judge also added, “a number of times CBI has been directed to file summons in the court, being forwarded by concerned senior officials for the purpose of supervision of processes issued by this court, but here in this case all the three summons of CBI officials issued by this court are received without any forwarding by senior officials.” “Copy of this order be sent to Joint Director CBI to look into it and file action taken report,” the court said. The court is currently recording evidence in the DA case in which Ajay, son of former Haryana Chief Minister and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, is facing trial. Two other similar cases are pending before it against his brother Abhay and their father. The cases were filed on a complaint by Haryana Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala. Ajay is serving 10 year imprisonment awarded in January 2013 by another CBI court in the 1999-2000 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers recruitment scam. OP Chautala was also sent to 10 years in jail in the JBT case. The Supreme Court had dismissed the appeals of Chautala and Ajay and had upheld their jail term. CBI had chargesheeted Ajay in 2010 indicting him for possessing assets exceeding his legal income by 339.27 percent. His legal income between May 1993 and May 2006 was Rs 8.17 crore, but had acquired assets worth Rs 27.7 crore, it had alleged. All the charges have been denied by Chautala and his sons.