CBI conmen case: Bombay HC sentences disabled accused to 3 years in jail

Ashwini Kumar Sharma was found guilty for duping more than 200 people, including film personalities like Rakesh Roshan, and businessmen, by posing as CBI officer.

Mumbai: A special court here on Tuesday convicted a disabled man, accused of posing as a CBI officer and duping several people including filmmaker Rakesh Roshan, and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment.

Special judge V P Desai hearing cases linked to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) held the accused, Ashwini Kumar Sharma, guilty under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Sharma was unable to attend court in person due to his medical disability, but appeared via video conference when the judgment was pronounced, special public prosecutor Sandeep Singh said.

On Monday, the Bombay High Court permitted him to appear before the special judge via video conference.

Kumar had challenged in the high court an order passed last month by the special CBI court issuing a non-bailable warrant against him and directing him to appear before it on the day judgment is to be pronounced in the case.

He claimed that following an accident he has suffered 80 per cent disability and hence would not be able to appear before the court physically.

Kumar, who is currently residing with his family in Haryana's Panipat district, sought permission to appear via video conference and gave an undertaking that he would not at a later stage claim the judgment as illegal on the ground that he was not physically present.

Another accused in the case, Rajesh Rajan, has already been convicted in 2022.

Sharma and Rajan were arrested by the CBI in 2011 for allegedly cheating more than 200 people, including film personalities like Rakesh Roshan, and businessmen.

According to the probe agency, the accused has cheated people since 2006 by posing as CBI officers.

The duo's luck, however, ran out when they approached Rakesh Roshan seeking money to settle a civil matter the filmmaker was embroiled in. Roshan allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to the conmen and later approached the CBI's anti-corruption wing when his matter was not settled as assured.

According to the CBI, the duo had also approached a politician accused in an alleged scam pertaining to the Adarsh building in Mumbai and promised him help in diluting the case against him in return for payment of a few lakh rupees.