The special court for CBI cases has dismissed a private complaint against senior IPS officer and chairman of Godavari Valley Development Authority, Umesh Kumar, accusing him of irregularities in making purchases during his tenure as additional director general (provisions and logistics).
The complaint was filed in 2011 by Pavan Kumar, requesting the court to take the charges into cognisance and direct the CBI to investigate the scam. Rajendra Prasad, counsel for the petitioner, alleged that “Umesh Kumar has not only caused the exchequer a loss of about Rs 24 crore, but has also purchased lesser quality items causing inconvenience to the personnel.”
The complainant said that Mr Umesh Kumar, who was appointed ACB DG in the first week of September 2010, violated rules by purchasing one lakh pairs of shoes from a Noida-based firm on nomination basis at the rate of Rs 750 per pair when the DGS rate was Rs 300 per pair. He also alleged that Mr Umesh Kumar purchased sub-standard material for bullet proof jackets and riot gear. Counsel further alleged that Umesh Kumar has purchased properties worth Rs 7 crore in the names of his family as well as through benami deals.
Court should start Umesh trial: Counsel
“As the High Court had quashed journalist T. Sunil Reddy’s approver’s petition, he becomes the accused again. Instead of issuing summons to them and commencing trial, the court seems to be after Umesh Kumar,” the counsel said. Mr Sanga Reddy had issued the NBW while dismissing Mr Kumar’s petition under Section 317 (Permission to grant exemption from appearance) of IPC. He was directed to appear before the court on June 21. Mr Kumar’s counsel, meanwhile, said that it was a summons case and an advocate could appear on the IPS officer’s behalf. “As per the High Court’s directions, the court should first issue summons to the other accused in the case and conduct proceedings,” he maintained.
“The court allowed many Section 317 petitions today. Why not this? It’s prolonged and has been adjourned five to six times. The proceedings too are not going on,” the defence counsel pointed out.
In the last hearing, as Mr Kumar hadn’t appeared before the court, CID officials had filed a memo requesting the court to send the IPS officer to judicial custody on grounds that he was not attending court and trying to influence prosecution witnesses. The CID had registered a case against the IPS officer, Sunil Reddy and two others for allegedly forging signatures of Rajya Sabha member M.A. Khan and sending a false complaint to the Ministry of Home Affairs against top cop V. Dinesh Reddy.