Allahabad HC reserves verdict on plea of Yadav Singh against CBI custody

PRAYAGRAJ: Allahabad High Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment on a habeas corpus petition, filed by former chief engineer of Noida, Yadav Singh, seeking release from the alleged illegal custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI had arrested Yadav Singh on February 10, 2020 in connection with an FIR registered against him, alleging therein that he had awarded a contract in favour of seven persons, flouting all the rules including prevalent market rates, and thereby had caused big financial losses to the government.
In the petition, it was alleged that CBI has not filed chargesheet within the time limit, which is 90 days. Therefore, either he should be granted bail or be released from the CBI custody forthwith.
However, the counsel appearing for the CBI had informed the court that courts had been closed due to Covid-19. Since the Ghaziabad court, where CBI court is located, opened on June 8, 2020, the CBI has filed chargesheet there. Hence, the CBI counsel pleaded that the delay in filing the chargesheet was not intentional. Therefore, the petitioner is not entitled to get any relief on this ground.
According to CBI counsel, the petitioner has taken the main plea of delay in filing of chagesheet, therefore his petition should be rejected in view of the above submissions, added CBI counsel.
After hearing counsel for the petitioner and CBI at length, the division bench comprising Justice Pritinkar Divakar and Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav reserved the judgement on the petition, which will be pronounced later.