BENGALURU: A city civil and sessions court directed two officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to pay damages of `2.50 lakh plus interest to Mahesh Joshi, Additional Director General, Doordarshan Kendra, Bengaluru.
After a 13-year long trial, IX Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Krishnamurthy B Sangannanavar directed N Dilip Kumar, DIG, CBI Regional Office, Hyderabad, and B Paneerselvam, Inspector, CBI, Madhya Pradesh, to pay the damages.
“The plaintiff (Joshi) is entitled to recover special and general damages of `2.50 lakh with cost and interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the date of suit till realisation from the defendants (CBI officials). The liability of defendants shall be joint and several and they are personally liable to pay such amount to the plaintiff,” the judge ordered on November 5, 2016.
Joshi had filed a suit in 2003 after the High Court quashed a case of disproportionate assets registered against him by the CBI officials in 2000, claiming damages of `2.50 lakh from the officials. In 2000, the CBI had registered a case for his alleged conspiracy in the “approval and telecast of Lux Top 10”, a programme of Doordarshan when he took charge of Sponsored Section, Doordarshan Kendra, Bengaluru, in 1999.
However, the High Court quashed the CBI case for lack of evidence, according to a release issued by Joshi.