Fake medicine racket bribery case: Court grants custody of DIG Deepak Gahlawat to CBI for interrogation, pulls up Agency

New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): A Rouse Avenue court on Wednesday granted one day's custody of IPS Deepak Gahlawat (DIG) to the CBI. He will be produced before the court tomorrow.
He has been arrested by the CBI in a Corruption case linked with the alleged demand of bribes for securing favourable results for the accused in a fake medicine racket case being investigated by the CBI.
It is alleged that Deepak Gahlawat demanded Rs 3 crore for using his influence to secure favourable results in the investigation linked with accused N Raja and Raj Kumar in the Fake medicine racket case being investigated by the CBI.
Special Judge (CBI) Sushant Changotra granted only one day's custody of Deepak Gahlawat to the CBI for interrogation regarding the names of the CBI officers who were allegedly influenced by him.
The CBI sought his 5-day custody remand to know the names of public servants who were to be influenced by Deepika Gahlawat.
However, during the hearing, the court reprimanded the Investigation officer over the manner in which the investigation was being conducted and for not asking the names of officers posted in CBI who were to be influenced by Deepak Gahlawat.
The court had asked the CBI why the accused was in custody since 9 PM yesterday and had joined the investigation earlier also, then why did not the names of those CBI officer were asked by the CBI?
While seeking the 5-day custody of Deepak Gahlawat, the CBI submitted that a meeting held on May 14 was attended by Inspector Pradeep Singh, N Raja, RajKumar and Prabhat Kapoor.
During the meeting, the accused Deepak Gahlawat demanded Rs. 3 crore for using his influence, as he has some of his batchmates in the CBI, the CBI said.
The CBI further said that he demanded Rs 1.5 crores in advance out of Rs 3 crores. The CBI also submitted that Rs one crore has been recovered from Prabhat Kapoor.
The CBI said that Gahlawat's police custody was to confront him with the evidence collected during the investigation and unearth the larger Conspiracy. There are transactions in the bank account of the accused, including the transaction of Rs 50,000 through UPI from Prabhat Kapoor.
It was also submitted by the CBI that the accused had asked Prabhat Kapoor to delete the chat, destroy the SIM, and install one app on the mobile phone. Kapoor was arrested on June 16.
Advocate Anurag Nasiar alongwith Ajayant Singh and Paripoorn Singh, appeared for Deepak Gahlawat. He opposed the custody remand prayer, saying that Deepak Gahlawat has joined the investigation multiple times and has been confronted with the 4 accused persons.
It is undisputed that the meeting was held on May 14, but no demand for money was made by the accused, the counsel submitted.
It was also argued that the transaction of Rs 50,000 was in connection with the sale of Gahlawat's old car to Prabhat Kapoor, who runs a sale agency.
The counsel also submitted that the accused has surrendered his mobile phone to the CBI, and all his premises have been raided by the CBI. His health condition is also not good. He has been on medication for mental depression for the last two months. There is no requirement for custodial interrogation.
After hearing the submissions, the court granted one day's custody.
"I find force in the submissions of the public prosecutors for the CBI. The conduct of the investigation officer (IO) in this respect and the responses given by him today and as recorded in the order sheet are totally unfathomable. However, as the case may be, it is the settled proposition of law that the investigating agency must be given the best possible opportunity for fair investigation," the Special Judge said.
Special judge said, "In my considered opinion, the accused Deepak Gahlawat is required to be remanded to police custody for further investigation, but only for a period of one day. Accordingly, the application is disposed of."
The court directed that accused Deepak Gahlawat be remanded to police custody till July 2. He will be produced in the court before 4 PM on July 2. The accused will be medically examined before being taken to the office of the CBI, and he shall be medically examined tomorrow as well before his production in the court.
While hearing the remand application, the court noted that the allegations of the case of prosecution are that accused Deepak Gahlawat had made a demand for a bribe for using his personal influence over a public servant who was posted in the CBI.
The court noted, "The answer to queries posed to the IO today makes it apparent that till date no effort has been made in the investigation to investigate as to whether any public servant who was posted in CBI was ever approached by accused Deepak Gahlawat or he had made any attempt to exercise his personal influence over such public servant."
"In fact, the IO has made no endeavour to ascertain as to whether any such public servant actually existed or about the identity of such public servant, if he/she existed," the court pointed out.
At this stage, on the query of the court, the IO has stated that the aforesaid investigation can be done from accused Deepak Gehlawat in Judicial Custody, but the public prosecutors have submitted that police custody may be the best tool as the confrontation with such other public servant may not be possible effectively in judicial custody, the court noted in the order. (ANI)