New Delhi: Supreme Court has dismissed a CBI plea for grant of pardon to controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma in a case in which he is facing charges along with a senior Enforcement Directorate officer of having committed forgery to frame a businessman.
A bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan dismissed the CBI plea and upheld a Delhi High Court order quashing the trial court`s direction granting pardon to Verma in the 1998 case.
"The manner in which the application has been dealt with as the Respondent No.2 (Verma) and the present appellant (CBI) had been playing hide and seek with the court and in spite of the fact that the court had asked the agency to disclose the criminal cases pending against him, no information was furnished," SC said while passing its orders.
The apex court in a separate judgement ordered withdrawal of the disciplinary action against Indian Revenue Service officer AK Aggarwal, who was suspended 13 years back.
Verma, who was arrested in November 1999, is said to have disclosed to CBI that he played an active role in committing forgery upon the instructions of Aggarwal to implicate one SC Barjatya, a businessman.
He made the same statement before the trial court and agreed to become the approver in the case in 2000 while filing an application for grant of pardon. CBI did not object to his plea and the trial court in September 2001 allowed the same.
Delhi HC, however, quashed the above order and referred the matter back to the trial court for a fresh decision.
CBI had then approached the apex court, which has now dismissed the plea.
Earlier, HC had upheld a CAT order revoking former ED
Deputy Director Aggarwal`s suspension after dismissing the Centre`s appeal against it, saying that "the test of probity of a civil servant must not become a test of his patience."
While ordering revocation of Aggarwal`s suspension on July 1 last year, CAT had said that the 1985-batch officer, who is named in disproportionate assets cases, cannot be kept on suspension "endlessly".
Aggarwal was suspended in 1999. CAT had first quashed his suspension in 2003 but his Department had in April, 2003, suspended him again.
CAT had ordered revocation of Aggarwal`s suspension saying the Ministry had not complied with its December 16, 2011, order asking it to convene a review committee to decide whether the disciplinary action should be withdrawn.
