CBI chargesheets former NIA officer for helping IRS officer facing corruption probe

New Delhi, November 23

The CBI has filed a chargesheet against former NIA officer Jalaj Srivastava for allegedly obtaining call detail records for an IRS officer, Sansar Chand, who is facing a corruption case, officials said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has also named Chand’s wife Avinash Kaur as an accused with Srivastava in its chargesheet filed before a special court recently.

The CBI has invoked charges of criminal conspiracy (120-B), criminal breach of trust (409) under the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the officials said.

During his posting with the National Investigation Agency, Srivastava, who was Chand and Avinash Kaur’s neighbour in HUDCO place in south Delhi’s Andrews Ganj locality, had allegedly helped them by providing them with the call detail records (CDRs), they said.

Chand, who was then GST commissioner, Kanpur, and his wife were arrested by the CBI in 2018 in a corruption case for allegedly seeking a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from a Kanpur-based businessman, they said.

The couple allegedly contacted Srivastava to help provide CDRs of a number belonging to one Sudesh Saini soon after they were booked, the officials said.

The couple’s activities were under the scanner of CBI’s special unit, which intercepted the call between Avinash Kaur and Srivastava and informed the NIA, they added.

During an internal probe of the NIA, it emerged that Srivastava allegedly sought call records of three numbers during 2017 and 2018 citing their requirements in a case probed by the agency. He allegedly asked the staff of an IPS officer to send the e-mail to the service provider seeking CDRs stating their requirement in the case probed by the NIA, officials said.

The report shows he successfully managed to get CDRs of two numbers which he allegedly forwarded to Avinash Kaur, they said.

Srivastava was shifted to his parent cadre Border Security Force. After getting the inquiry report, the CBI sought sanction from the Home Ministry to book Srivastava and did so after getting it. —PTI

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