CBI arrests its own prosecutor

The CBI itself arrested RP Diwedi under the Prevention of Corruption Act on charges of taking illegal gratification to go slow against the accused, reports Mustafa Plumber.

He served the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a public prosecutor for 29 years. Last year, he was awarded the ‘best public prosecutor’ award.

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But on Tuesday, the CBI itself arrested R.P. Diwedi under the Prevention of Corruption Act on charges of taking illegal gratification to go slow against the accused.

A special team from the Delhi headquarters of CBI arrested Diwedi for going slow against four accused arrested earlier by the investigating agency. Diwedi was arrested from his cabin at the sessions court after the CBI unearthed bank bonds amounting to Rs 18.65 lakh from his house.

The sleuths are yet to trace Diwedi’s exact sources of income for which they required his custody. A Special CBI court has remanded Diwedi in police custody till March 23.

Alongwith Diwedi, the CBI has also arrested a constable of the department who allegedly helped the public prosecutor run his money laundering business. Constable Vijay Prabhu and Bharat Shah, a middleman, were also remanded in custody till March 23.

Diwedi’s lawyer Mukesh Pandey said, “The CBI had received a private complaint following which they kept Prabhu’s phone under observation for over a week. Based on revelations of phone recordings, it was found that Diwedi had taken Rs 2 lakh from an accused for not opposing his bail application in court recently.

Diwedi stays in Thane with his wife, while his son is a Canadian national working in a software company. He has handled several sensitive cases for the CBI, the recent being the remand and bail pleas of income tax commissioner B.R. Meena.