HC rejects plea against Kesri in assets case

NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The Delhi Court today dismissed a petition against former Congress president Sitaram Kesri accusing him of acquiring a...

NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The Delhi Court today dismissed a petition against former Congress president Sitaram Kesri accusing him of acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, saying the CBI had not found any material in this regard.

A division bench, comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice Manmohan Sarin, in their order said, “We have considered the entire matter and perused the status report of CBI which has formed an opinion on the issue….And no purpose will be served in pursuing the matter further.”

The bench said that after perusing the report of the CBI, it was not for the court to go over the merits and demerits of the case. “Neither have we expressed any opinion on merits and demerits,” the judges said.

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The order came on a review petition by Patna-based scribe Madhuresh, who had alleged that Kesri had acquired benami

properties disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The court made it clear that if the petitioner was not satisfied with the order, he wasfree to seek available legal remedy at the appropriate forum.

The CBI, in its status report submitted on November 30, had given a clean chit to Kesri saying, “No material could be found to reflect that any offence, under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act or any other penal law, has been committed (by Kesri).”