Antrix-Devas Deal: CBI given a month to get sanction for trail

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi-A special court on Friday granted Central Bureau of Investigation time till September 29 for getting appropriate sanction from authorities concerned to prosecute former senior officials in Antrix-Devas deal case, including former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair, even as it questioned the probe agency on delay in filing the chargesheet.

“It is submitted by investigating officer that he is filing documents today and that it will require some more time in receiving the sanction under Section 197 CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure), which may take about one month…,” the special CBI court said, posting the matter on September 29. Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar asked the probe officer as to why filing of the chargesheet in the case took such a long time when the first information report was filed much earlier.

The FIR was filed on March 16, 2015 against Nair and other senior officials, accused of facilitating ‘wrongful’ gain of Rs 578 crore to private multi-media company Devas by Antrix, the commercial arm of the ISRO. The CBI had on August 11 charged Nair and senior Space Department officials with causing a loss of Rs 578 crore to the exchequer by abusing their official position to favour a private company.