Satyam, Quattrocchi kept CBI busy in 2009
The probe into the Rs 14,000-crore Satyam fraud, clean chit to Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors payoff scam and a number of high- profile cases kept the country's premier investigating agency busy in 2009.
The agency probing the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir gave a clean chit to four police officials. After three years of probe, CBI in December filed a chargesheet against the two sons of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala. Acting on the Andhra Pradesh government's request, CBI had on February 18 taken over probe into the Satyam case leading to the arrest of former chairman B Ramalingam Raju, MD B Rama Raju and ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas.
On January seven, Raju confessed to have cooked the company's account books and inflated profits over the past several years. The probe in the case has been completed and the agency has filed two chargesheets.
Former Union minister Sukhram was convicted and sentenced on February 25 to undergo three years' rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs two lakh in a disproportionate assets case. In a first of its kind incident, senior RAW officer A S Narayan Rao was on February 3 arrested by CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs one lakh from a Chennai-based manufacturer.
Prime accused in the three-year-old Nithari killings, Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli were awarded death sentence by a CBI court in February for the rape and murder of 14-year-old girl Rimpa Halder. Sixteen more cases are under judicial process.
In April, giving a twist to its probe in the Rs 64-crore Bofors scam, CBI asked Interpol to take off the name of Quattrocchi from the Red Corner notice list in which he had been put at India's behest.
The CBI carried out a number of anti-corruption drives and arrested various government officials during the year and recovered crore of rupees. A majority of them were from Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, Insurance companies, Customs, All India Council of Technical Education and University Grants Commission.
CBI registered a case in May against an IGP and a Commandant, CRPF Bihar Sector and six private persons in the CRPF Constables recruitment scam. In June, the CBI sought extension of the term of the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) — probing the conspiracy behind former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.
The agency also launched a nationwide drive against corruption in June and registered 69 cases of corruption and alleged irregularities by public functionaries. During the drive, CBI also registered one case of alleged corruption in the Railway Recruitment Board, Allahabad.
CBI sleuths arrested Padamsinh Patil, a senior NCP leader and Lok Sabha MP, from Navi Mumbai for his alleged involvement in the 2006 murder of Maharashtra Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar, who along with his driver, were shot dead in a car in 2006.
In July, the CBI arrested member secretary of All India Council for Technical Education K Narayan Rao for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs five lakh.
A case was also registered against AICTE Chairman R A Yadav, its Advisor H C Rai, Deputy Director Robinder Randhawa and Regional Officer Sriom Dalal on alleged bribery charges.
CBI registered a case against some persons for hacking into the subscriber details of top most customers of private telecom service operator Vodafone and changing their mail IDs for getting the e-bills delivered to fake mail IDs.
It took 19 years for CBI to file a chargesheet against two Christian priests and a nun for the murder of Sister Abhaya in a Kerala convent at Kottayam. Father Thomas Kottoor, Father Thomas Poothrikkayil and Sister Sephy were arrested on November 19, 2008. The 21-year- old nun was found dead in a well in St Pius convent in Kottayam on 27 March, 1992.
The agency sleuths on July 31 arrested National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Chairman Buta Singh's son Sarobjit for allegedly demanding bribe of Rs one crore from a Nashik-based contractor for closing a case against him.
Claiming to have got new leads into the case, the CBI had on August 19 filed chargesheet in the 2002 "coffin scam" of the Kargil war against four persons including two retired army officials and one serving officer.
The agency also reconstituted its team of officials probing the sensational Aarushi-Hemraj double-murder case. The agency had on October nine visited the office of oil regulator V K Sibal to check records following charges of him receiving favours from Mukesh Ambani-led RIL to approve an inflated expenditure for gas field. The agency also filed a charge sheet against 19 people for allegedly carrying out nine serial blasts in Assam on October 30, 2008.
CBI on November 24 arrested a member of Company Law Board (CLB), R Vasudevan and a company secretary, Manoj Banthia for allegedly seeking bribe to the tune of Rs seven lakh to give a favourable ruling in a case. The agency conducted searches at the offices of the Telecom Ministry probing the allegations of corruption in allocation of 2G spectrum estimated to be of Rs 22,000 crore.
Abdul Kareem Telgi and eight others were convicted to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment ranging between three years to seven years for printing and selling fake stamps.
