Thane CBI court acquits I-T officer, wife in 19-year-old assets case

A special CBI court in Thane has acquitted a suspended Income Tax officer and his wife in a disproportionate assets case registered nearly two decades ago while strongly criticising the investigation carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI reported PTISpecial CBI Court Judge DS Deshmukh while delivering the order on Tuesday observed that the investigation suffered from serious flaws and described the agencyrsquos approach as ldquocasualrdquo and ldquoerroneousrdquo reported PTIThe court acquitted Anil Ratnakar Mallel then posted as an Income Tax Officer in Thane and his wife Suvarna Anil Mallel of charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code related to abetment reported PTIThe case had been pending since 2007CBI alleged officer amassed wealth beyond known sources of incomeThe CBIrsquos AntiCorruption Bureau in Mumbai had registered the case in January 2007 alleging that Anil Mallel misused his official position to accumulate disproportionate assets between September 1991 and December 2006 reported PTIAccording to the agency assets had allegedly been acquired in the names of the officer and his family membersThe FIR initially estimated the disproportionate assets at around Rs 1534 lakh but the figure was later revised to Rs 2857 lakh in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in November 2008During the trial the defence argued that investigators failed to properly account for several legitimate sources of income and financial transactions linked to the familyDefence says valid income sources ignored during probeDefence counsel MS More argued before the court that the investigating agency ignored several important financial records while calculating the alleged disproportionate assets reported PTIAccording to the defence these included a joint housing loan of Rs 8 lakh taken by Mallelrsquos wife and his late mother independent income tax returns filed by the wife since 2000 General Provident Fund withdrawals and documented loans obtained from relatives reported PTIThe defence also argued that the CBI incorrectly treated Rs 243 lakh in cash recovered during a house search as the officerrsquos personal asset despite letters submitted by his mother claiming ownership of the moneyThe court noted that these aspects were not adequately considered during the investigation and prosecutionCourt finds discrepancies in calculation of assetsWhile acquitting the accused the court observed that the prosecution had failed to properly assess the actual income and expenditure of the accused couple reported PTIThe judge pointed out that the prosecution witness had allegedly inflated the calculation of disproportionate assets without evaluating supporting financial documents in the correct perspectiveldquoIt also appeared from the documents that while considering salary income the prosecution witness considered the net salary but while deducting unverifiable expenses the deduction was made from the gross salaryrdquo the court noted reported PTIAccording to the order this resulted in incorrect calculations that caused ldquogreat prejudicerdquo to both accused reported PTIThe court also referred to admissions made by the investigating officer during crossexamination observing that several relevant income sources had not been properly examinedCourt cites Supreme Court precedent while acquitting accusedJudge Deshmukh also referred to a Supreme Court precedent while explaining the standard required for defence in corruption casesThe court observed that an accused person in a disproportionate assets case is not required to prove innocence beyond reasonable doubt and that establishing a ldquopreponderance of probabilityrdquo is sufficientThe judge further criticised the prosecutionrsquos handling of the matter and stated that the testimony of the prosecution witness reflected a lack of detailed investigation before sanctioning the caseldquoThe approach for granting sanction appears casual and without detailed investigationrdquo the court observedThe acquittal brings to a close a legal case that remained pending for nearly 19 yearsWith inputs from PTI