CBI seeks custody of Chandra Swami, aide

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday urged the Delhi high court to let it take Chandra Swami and his associate, K N Aggarwal into custody for 10 days as they were violating earlier orders of the court and not cooperating in the investigation of certain Foreign Contribution Regulation Act offences registered against them.

Justice Mohammad Shamim, before whom the plea was made, however posted the next hearing of the matter to March 11 and directed that the interim stay on the swami and his associates' arrest, granted earlier by the court, would continue.

Justice Shamim, who deemed CBI counsel S Lal's repeated submissions as bordering on contempt of court, also directed that the case be transferred to some other bench.

Counsel K K Maanan, appearing for Chandra Swami and his associates, Aggarwal and Vikram Singh, had moved the Delhi high court for anticipatory bail three weeks ago following a notice from the CBI that it was going to arrest them as they were not supplying certain documents sought by the agency.

Justice Shamim had then directed the petitioners to supply the documents sought by the CBI within three weeks and had directed the agency not to arrest the three till the next date of hearing, scheduled for February 17.

Maanan on Friday moved an application, praying that the February 17 hearing be adjourned to some other day.

Lal, who was present in the court, submitted that the three accused were not cooperating with the investigation. They had not submitted the required documents in original and were also not turning up for interrogation.

Maanan, however, disputed this and said that the documents concerned were in the custody of the income tax authorities and they were not releasing these despite repeated requests. Photocopies of these documents had been submitted to CBI, he added.

As for not turning up for questioning, counsel averred that his clients had been responding to the CBI notices. He further contended that the CBI had not even once questioned Vikram Singh, who has been in judicial custody for the past 14 days in a Foreign Exchange Regulation Act violation case.

After hearing both counsel, Justice Shamim started dictating the order, which inter alia stated that the petitioners should supply the documents to the CBI as and when these are received from the income tax department.

Lal interjected and asked the court to lay down a time limit in which the documents were to be submitted. Justice Shamim said counsel was not listening to him and his behaviour amounted to contempt of court. He then directed that the matter be transferred to some other bench.

UNI