NEW DELHI: In a relief to businessman Satish Sana, a complainant in the alleged bribery case against CBI special director Rakesh Asthana who has been sent on leave, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Hyderabad Police to provide him adequate security.
However, a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices U U Lalit and K M Joseph refused to stay the CBI summons against Sana and also rejected his plea for the recording of his statement in the presence of retired former apex court judge A K Patnaik.
During the hearing, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for Sana, said the businessman needed protection as there was a threat to his life.
The bench accepted the plea and said, “We will say here is a citizen who claims to be a whistleblower and fears for his life. And he should be given adequate security.”
The CBI had booked Asthana on October 15 on the basis of a complaint from Sana, facing probe in a 2017 case involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi.
Meanwhile, CBI deputy SP A K Bassi, the former investigating officer in the alleged corruption case against Asthana, moved the Supreme Court against his transfer to Port Blair. He said his transfer was malafide and aimed at derailing a sensitive probe.
Bassi said he had incriminating evidence against Asthana in the bribery case and requested the SC to call for evidence of technical surveillance. He also sought setting up a special investigating team (SIT) to investigate charges against Asthana.
“Illegal gratification was given on December 10 and 13, 2017, to Asthana after which the summons to businessman Sathish Sana stopped. However, there was pressure to pay remaining amount as part of a deal. This is evidenced in Whatsapp messages,” Bassi’s application said.