BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court refused to quash criminal proceedings against Surya Sareen, the then president and CEO of Akon Inc, USA, based on the charge sheet filed by the CBI against Sareen for allegedly cheating Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) by supplying faulty radio frequency generators.
“The case is of a global tender and the successful tenderer allegedly cheated the DRDO. Therefore, there has been some delay in investigating an overseas allegation.
In that light, delay in the case at hand, has not vitiated the proceedings, as it is trite law that mere delay would not vitiate the proceedings; it is only unexplained delay,” the court said.
The HC rejected the petitioner’s submission that the criminal law could not have been set in motion in a purely civil dispute since the issue related to the contract between DARE, DRDO and Akon Inc.
Surya Sareen was the president and CEO of Akon in 2007. DARE and DRDO notified a global tender to procure VO-based radio frequency engines.