E-Paper
Conviction of ex-major general set aside by Delhi High Court
The trial court adopted an unduly technical and hasty approach by prematurely closing the defence evidence without affording him a reasonable opportunity to examine his remaining witnesses, the court ruled.
The Delhi High Court has overturned the conviction of retired Major General Anand Kumar Kapur in a disproportionate assets case after 10 years, holding that the trial court adopted an unduly technical and hasty approach by prematurely closing the defence evidence without affording him a reasonable opportunity to examine his remaining witnesses.
A bench of justice Jasmeet Singh in his verdict delivered on Wednesday, also found serious infirmities in how the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) obtained sanction for prosecution.
“...the trial court proceeded with undue haste to close the appellant’s evidence without granting any further opportunity, thereby causing serious prejudice to the defence…,” the high court said.
Kapur, who joined the Indian Army in 1971, was booked by CBI in 2007 for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during his service till 2006.
In September 2016, a trial court convicted him under the Prevention of Corruption Act and sentenced him to one year of rigorous imprisonment, a fine of ₹50,000 and also ordered confiscation of assets worth ₹2.22 crore.
Kapur challenged the conviction before the high court, arguing through his counsel, Vivek Kohli, that the investigation was flawed and the prosecution sanction was invalid.
He further contended that he was denied a fair trial after the trial court closed his defence evidence during a lawyers’ strike, even though only four of his nine proposed defence witnesses had been examined.
The CBI’s special public prosecutor Rajesh Kumar defended the conviction, maintaining that sufficient opportunity was provided to Kapur and that the trial court was acting in compliance with the Supreme Court’s direction to conclude the proceedings by September 2016.
