New Delhi, 13 August (H.S.): The Rouse Avenue Fast-Track Court has reserved its order on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) plea seeking permission to conduct further investigation into the paper leak case. Special Judge Ajay Gupta directed that the order will be pronounced on Friday, August 14.
During Thursday’s proceedings, lawyers representing the accused sought copies of the chargesheet and related documents. Following their request, the court deferred the hearing on framing of charges against the accused.
On August 12, the court had taken cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the CBI against 13 accused persons. Those named in the chargesheet are Yash Yadav, Mangilal Biwal, Dinesh Biwal, Vikas Biwal, Shubham Khairnar, Dhananjay Lokhande, Prahlad Kulkarni, Tejas Harshad Kumar, Dr Manoj Shirure, Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar, Manisha Waghmare, Manisha Mandhare and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar. All of them are currently in judicial custody.
The CBI has registered an FIR against the accused under Sections 315(5), 318(4), 61(2), 238 and 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Sections 13(2) and 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and Sections 3, 4, 5, 10 and 11 of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act.
Earlier, the court had refused to permit the CBI to conduct lie-detector tests on three accused — Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal.
During the hearing on the chargesheet, the CBI submitted that the FIR in the case was registered on May 12, following which the investigation was launched immediately with the assistance of 72 officers and eight cyber-forensic experts.
The agency said it conducted searches at 92 locations across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and other states as part of the investigation. The first arrest in the case was made on May 13.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
