CBI court acquits ex-DRI officer C Rajan in graft case

CHENNAI: More than 10 years after C Rajan, then additional Director General of DRI in Chennai was arrested for allegedly receiving bribe of Rs 2 lakh and an iPad, a special court for CBI cases here found Rajan not guilty of charges.

Prosecution has miserably failed, the court noted while acquitting Rajan.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) made the sensational arrest in March 2012. Rajan and co-accused driver Murugesan were found not guilty and both are acquitted, said an order issued by judge AK Mehbub Alikhan last Friday.

According to CBI, “Rajan had demanded an illegal gratification of Rs 10 lakh and an iPad from

the complainant and that Murugesan had accepted a sum of Rs 2 lakh and the iPad as advance on 6 March 2012 from one Ubaidullah, on behalf of Rajan and thereby they both have committed offences punishable under IPC Section 120-B and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.”

"The cumulative analysis of the evidence available in this case shows that the contradictions that glare on the face and go to the very root of this case cannot be ignored and that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the guilt of the accused,” the court noted.

Therefore, the court is of the considered opinion that there is absolutely no material to show there was any demand or acceptance of bribe by Rajan or by Murugesan on behalf of Rajan and that the prosecution has failed to prove the guilt of both.