Antrix-Devas scam: Plea filed against the Investigating Officer for making false statements

Veena S Rao, one of the co-accused in the Antrix-Devas scam, has moved the Delhi Special (CBI) Court at Patiala House under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. .She has claimed that the Investigating Officer (IO) in the case, SC Jaini, has “deliberately” stated “false and incorrect facts” before the Court..In the application filed through Advocates Chirag Madan and Ravleen Sabarwal, Rao contends that the IO’s conduct amounts to perjury under Section 199 of Indian Penal Code 1860 and attracts liability under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971..A Section 297 CrPC application was preferred by Rao to bring on record certain deficiencies in the documents supplied by the prosecution..In its reply to this application seeking supply of such “deficient documents” as well as other documents not relied upon by the prosecution, the IO has “knowingly and deliberately” given false statements before the Court, Rao contends..To support her allegation, Rao has cited various discrepancies in the statement made by the IO and the documentary evidence he himself produced before the Court..The IO has stated in his reply that the documents seized/collected by the prosecution during investigation, which were then cited or relied upon, were submitted along with the chargesheet on August 11, 2016, whereas the records suggest that the documents were filed only on September 9, 2016, Rao alleges..Furthermore, in the chargesheet filed before the Court, it is stated that Rao was Additional Secretary, Department of Space “during 2004-2005”, suggesting that she occupied office at the time when the Antrix-Devas Agreement was being negotiated and approved by the Antrix Board..The applicant contends that the fact that she was Additional Secretary from December 22, 2004 till December 28, 2005 is being concealed deliberately by the IO, by withholding the relevant document requested for..The application also alleges that the documents submitted before the Court are “missing pages” as the handwritten pagination is not consistent with the stamped page numbers..The Antrix-Devas scam pertains to the leasing of S-Band, a restricted wavelength of the INSAT satellites to deliver video, multimedia and information services to mobile receivers in vehicles and mobile phones to Devas Multimedia by Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO..An FIR was lodged against Former ISRO chairperson G Madhavan Nair and several other officials of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Space (DoS) on March 16, 2015..Later that year, the Central Bureau of Investigation submitted a chargesheet before the Court agaisnt Nair, Rao as well as several others for causing a loss of Rs 578 crore to the exchequer by abusing their official positions to favour a private company..Rao’s plea to quash the charges framed against her pursuant to the chargesheet is pending before the Delhi High Court..The matter will come up for hearing before the trial court next on September 15.