Delhi High Court stops release of files by CBI during Delhi Secy raid

In a setback to the Delhi Government, the Delhi High Court today set aside an order passed by a Special CBI court directing the CBI to return the documents seized during the raid on Delhi Principal Secretary, Rajendra Kumar..The CBI Special Court had also passed some strict remarks on the manner in which the search was carried out. The CBI had assailed the said order before the High Court..Justice PS Teji in a 29-page order, has given his verdict on the crucial question of whether the seized documents were required to be retained by the CBI for the purpose of investigation..“It is clear that the case of the Petitioner is premised on the grounds that the investigation is at the initial stage and disclosing the relevancy or considering the relevancy of the documents in the impugned order at this stage is not sustainable in the eyes of law.”.Agreeing with the aforesaid submissions made by the CBI, represented by ASG Tushar Mehta, Justice Teji goes on to say,.“Direction given in the impugned order to disclose the relevancy of the documents is neither justifiable nor desirable nor sustainable in the eyes of law at this stage. It would be pertinent to mention here that such inquiry in the open Court or in the reply would hamper the entire investigation and would amount to unnecessary interference in the investigation. .It is against the principle of privacy, as the investigation which is the sole domain of the Investigating Officer and his mindset need not to be disclosed during the pendency of the investigation and required to be disclosed only at the time of filing the charge sheet before the Court. Needless to say that the Court has ample power to consider the relevancy of the documents filed along with the charge sheet by the Investigating Officer on the completion of investigation.”.The judgment also criticized the Special CBI Court of having ‘exceeded its jurisdiction’ and also failing to ‘exercise its jurisdiction.’.“There is also failure to exercise the jurisdiction in not considering and examining the application dated 21.12.2015 filed by the CBI for retention of seized documents. .It is apparent that no order on the application of the CBI regarding submission of execution reports of search warrants and request for retention of seized documents has been passed.”.Read the judgment here.