Overview
- Two officers, CBI Joint Director Ramneesh and retired Delhi Police officer V. K. Pandey, were sentenced on Tuesday to three months in jail for assault, mischief and trespass during a 2000 raid on IRS officer Ashok Kumar Aggarwal’s Delhi home.
- The same court had convicted them on April 18 after finding the search and arrest were carried out in a mala fide manner to thwart a tribunal order that had paused a review of Aggarwal’s suspension.
- The judge rejected claims of official immunity under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code, ruling the acts had no nexus with duty and reflected an abuse of power rather than lawful procedure.
- The court suspended the jail terms for one month after the men furnished bail bonds, and it ordered each to pay Rs 50,000 to Aggarwal, citing the long ordeal and injury documented in his medical report.
- Witness accounts and records showed forced entry, confinement of family members and an injury during arrest, and the court said senior officers must use independent judgment rather than blame directions from superiors.