Ex-acting CBI chief held guilty of contempt, sentenced till rising of court

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday held former acting Director of CBI M. Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him along with the agency’s legal advisor till the rising of the court.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna also fined them Rs 1 lakh each.

Chief Justice Gogoi said that in his last 20 years as a judge he had not compromised on the dignity and honour of the court.

Rao and the CBI’s legal advisor earned the wrath of the court for relieving former Additional Director A.K. Sharma from the CBI without taking the prior nod of the top court.

Holding Rao guilty of contempt of court, the judges noted that on January 18, 2019, when Sharma was relieved, Rao was aware of the court’s two orders and had asked the concerned people to approach the court.

However, on the same day, he signed a draft order sent by DoPT relieving Sharma from the CBI without satisfying whether the top court had been taken into confidence.

Sharma, who was heading the investigating team probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home horror, had said that he could not be shunted out as the CBI needed to take the court’s permission.