Delhi HC Grants More Time To CBI To Complete Investigation Against Rakesh Asthana

In yesterday's hearing, CBI sought an adjournment as the ASG designated to argue for the agency was busy in the Supreme Court.

CBI also informed the court that four out of the eight stages of the investigation have been completed, and only Director's scrutiny is left to be ascertained.

Opposing the said adjournment, Senior Counsel Dayan Krishnan argued that the said adjournment would amount to more time being given to the agency to complete the investigation, which goes against the previous order of this court.

Mr Krishnan also pointed out that the agency has long surpassed the timeline given in its own Manual to complete investigation.

After ascertaining that no one is in prison right now, Justice Vibhu Bakhru allowed the matter to be adjourned till January 6. He went on to say:

'We'll take the issue of delay caused by the agency, despite the position of the court in the previous order, into consideration in the next hearing'

In the previous hearing, the court had rapped the CBI for delaying the sending of LRs to USA and UAE while knowing that the investigation had to be finished by July. Justice Bakhru had noted that the investigation should have been completed by now if the officers of the CBI could've functioned more efficiently.

The court had also granted an extension of 2 months by highlighting that it will grant no further extension. 'If new developments come up, you can always file a supplementary chargesheet', the court had noted.

In January, CBI was granted 4 months to investigate the charges in the present case. Later in May, an extension of 2 months was then granted to the investigation agency.