CBI alleges arm-twisting by IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi in affidavit before court

CBI filed this affidavit in response to contempt notices issued on March 28 to CBI on a petition filed by Sanjiv Chaturvedi for noncompliance with orders passed by the Delhi High Court on January 30. In the order, a single judge of the court had directed CBI to provide all the information related to various corruption cases of AIIMS, Delhi investigated by Sanjiv Chaturvedi as Chief Vigilance Officer, AIIMS and referred to CBI.

In its affidavit filed in the last week of April by Akhilesh Kumar Singh, DIG in the Anti-Corruption Branch(ACB) of CBI at New Delhi, CBI has alleged that by way of Contempt Petition, "An endeavour is being made by the petitioner to arm-twist the respondent agency and to prevent it from availing its legal remedies." In the same matter, last year in September, the Delhi High Court issued Contempt notices to two Senior CBI officers, Vineet Vanayak, the then head of Delhi zone and Gagan Deep Gambhir, the then SP in ACB, Delhi. In its affidavit, CBI has claimed that the Contempt Petition is not maintainable and they are availing legal remedies, 'which cannot be thwarted by way of initiation of contempt proceedings'. Interestingly, in September 2022, in a similar case, the Prime Minister's Office, in its affidavit before the Supreme Court, on the issue of information sought by Sanjiv Chaturvedi regarding corruption complaints against Union Ministers and black money, brought from abroad, had also levelled same allegation of arm-twisting against him. (ANI)