Plea against appointment as CBI director filed out of personal vendetta: Subodh Jaiswal tells Bombay High Court

Bombay High Court. File Pic

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Subodh Jaiswal has urged the Bombay High Court to dismiss a former police officer's petition challenging his appointment as the head of the central agency, citing that the plea was filed out of a "personal grudge". In an affidavit filed before the high court earlier this month, Jaiswal has claimed that the plea filed by Rajendra Trivedi, a former assistant commissioner (ACP) of the Maharashtra police, was malafide and a result of a "personal grudge".

"No case has been made out by the petitioner to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of the high court," Jaiswal's affidavit read.

"The petitioner has filed the present petition with a personal grudge against the answering respondent and only out of sheer vendetta and vengeance," it said.

The CBI director filed his affidavit in response to a previous direction by the high court while hearing Trivedi's plea.

In his plea filed through advocate S B Talekar, Trivedi has sought that Jaiswal's appointment as the director of the CBI be quashed.

Jaiswal's appointment was in contravention of the Delhi Police Establishment Act, the plea stated, seeking that the high court call for the records and proceedings of the three-member committee that had approved Jaiswal's candidature.

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The petitioner also said that the CBI director must necessarily be the senior most IPS officer with impeccable and unbreachable credibility and an experience in investigating anti-corruption cases.

Jaiswal, during his tenure as a police officer, had never been attached to any anti-corruption wing and hence, did not possess the requisite experience required under the Act, Trivedi claimed in the plea.

The petition also stated that a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Jaiswal, who was then a deputy inspector general, was set up in 2002 to investigate a fake and counterfeit stamps case, in reference to the Telgi case.

Strictures were passed against Jaiswal by the Supreme Court in the case and it was transferred to the CBI. The Apex Court's observations had not been withdrawn or expunged till date, it said.

Jaiswal, however, said in his affidavit that he was appointed as the CBI director only on "merit".

Trivedi, in his rejoinder responding to Jaiswal's affidavit, denied the allegations of personal vendetta.

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