Overview
- The Delhi High Court, which ruled Tuesday, dismissed Yadav’s plea to scrap the CBI FIR, three chargesheets and the cognisance orders, allowing the prosecution to proceed.
- Justice Ravinder Dudeja held that the lack of prior approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act did not invalidate the preliminary inquiry, the FIR or the trial court’s orders.
- Section 17A, added in 2018 to require approval before probing a public servant’s official decisions, does not apply to alleged acts from 2004 to 2009 or to influence outside formal appointment powers, the court said.
- The disclosure fight over “unrelied” documents—materials seized but not cited in the chargesheet—saw a trial court refusal on March 18 and a High Court notice on Monday, with a hearing listed for April 1.
- A Delhi trial court has already framed corruption and conspiracy charges against Yadav, Rabri Devi and others, as the CBI pursues jobs-for-land allegations from 2004 to 2009 across multiple railway zones and the ED runs a linked money-laundering case.