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Kesri cleared of charges of bribery, accumulating disproportionate assets

Taking cognisance of a Central Bureau of Investigation affidavit giving a clean chit to former Congress president Sitaram Kesri, the Delhi high court today cleared him of the charges of bribing 22 Bihar MLAs to win Rajya Sabha elections in 1988 and 1994 and acquiring wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

While disposing of the public interest litigation filed by Patna-based journalist Madhuresh Kumar seeking Kesri's prosecution, a division bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice Manmohan Sarin, however, refused to express any opinion of the CBI's affidavit.

"The CBI has filed several affidavits and status reports and has reached to certain conclusions. We have perused them and it is not for us to go into the merit and demerits of the affidavits," the judges observed in their order.

The bench noted the contention of petitioner's counsel Prashant Bhushan that, given the CBI's attitude, no purpose would be served in continuing the agency's investigation. The court permitted the petitioner to take recourse to available legal remedy if he was unsatisfied with the outcome of the case.

In its judgement, the court said the prime investigating agency of the country had concluded that no case had been made out against Kesri for allegedly acquiring wealth and no evidence, oral or documentary, was made available to substantiate the bribery allegations.

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