Delhi HC to hear plea for CBI probe against Vasundhara Raje

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He listed the matter for further hearing on October 8.

The special CBI judge had dismissed the private complaint by Rajasthan-based lawyer Srijana Shrestha, saying that there was no sanction order to prosecute them under the PC Act. According to the petition, there was no requirement of sanction as Raje was not a public servant at the time of alleged commission of the offence in 2010 when she was Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly.

“Accordingly, the present occupation of her post as Chief Minister would not require sanction under the PC Act as she had already demitted the office she was occupying when she allegedly committed the offence,” the petition claimed.

It also said that sanction was not required since the allegations were not related to any “official acts” by Raje.
The plea sought court orders to the CBI to register an FIR into allegations that Raje and her son had illegally claimed ownership of a 567 square metre piece of land adjoining Dholpur Palace in Dholpur town and sold it to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for Rs 1.97 crore for a road widening project, causing loss to the state exchequer.

The petitioner alleged that the land settlement had been “rigged’ to “obtain a decree” from a local court regarding the claim of Raje’s son to the plot.