By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday directed that the body of Ashutosh Asthana, the prime accused-cum-witness in a corruption case involving judges of the higher judiciary, should not be cremated “if it has not been until now”, till further orders.
A bench of Justice D.K. Jain and Justice H.L. Dattu issued the order on a plea by senior counsel Anil Diwan who had approached the court seeking an independent probe into the mysterious death of Asthana in Dasna Jail in Ghaziabad Saturday.
Diwan told the court that there was some uncertainty regarding reports of Asthana’s cremation and accordingly, he sought the court’s direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that if his body had not been cremated till then, it should not be cremated till further orders.
Approving Diwan’s demand, the court told him to inform the CBI counsel accordingly.
The court said it will hear the matter in detail Tuesday.
A clerk with the Ghaziabad district courts, Asthana was dubbed as the kingpin of a scandal involving the fraudulent withdrawal of social security fund from the district court’s treasury to the tune of Rs.2,300 million between 2000 and 2008.
He was accused of having embezzled the social security fund of the court’s lower grade employees with the collusion of judicial officers including sitting judges.
After the initial probe by the Ghaziabad police, the investigations into the scam were handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court following a public interest lawsuit.
In his early 40s, Asthana, had told a magisterial court in his deposition that a substantial chunk of the fund was spent in sending lavish gifts to judges, including those from Allahabad High Court (AHC) and one of the apex court.
He was the only one aware of the full details of the scam and had provided the CBI with documents that established connivance of a number of judicial officers including a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, seven of the AHC, 12 judges of the subordinate courts and six retired AHC judges.