Interesting twist in Upendra Rai case, CBI could not make any case

An interesting twist has developed in the case of journalist Upendra Rai, who was involved in the battle of CBI vs CBI.The complainant company White Lion Real Estate Developers Private Limited has put in a request with the CBI regarding withdrawal of its complaint. The company passed a unanimous resolution in the board meeting informing the CBI that the consultancy agreement between Upendra Rai and the company was signed on 3rd October, 2017, but only after mutual consent and complete satisfaction of the both the parties.

Along with the aforementioned, another unanimous resolution was passed by the board on 16th November 2019 requesting withdrawal of the complaint against Upendra Rai and informing the CBI that no further action was required against him. It is necessary to mention here that on 27th July 2020, the CBI had filed a closure report in connection with its second FIR to the Special CBI Court, while the special Judge of the CBI was already aware of it.The CBI in its closure report has specifically mentioned that no involvement of any government employee was found during the entire investigation of the case.

Sources have also reported that the complaint against senior journalist Upendra Rai was filed by Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan via the Director of White Lion Real Estate Developers Private Limited, a company of their group, under the pressure of the then CBI Director Alok Verma. In accordance with the rules, the CBI should not have filed this complaint as believed by the experts but the then Director of CBI made sure that the complaint was registered. After acknowledging Upendra Rai’s statement to the CBI, it is evident that there was never any meeting or conversation which happened between Upendra Rai and the complainants Balwinder Malhotra and Mehul Bavishi.

The peculiar scenario about the case is that the complainants did not file any complaint for a period of 8 months, after the consultancy agreement between Upendra Rai and the company, signed by mutual consent on 3rd October, 2017. After 8 months a sudden complaint was raised against Upendra Rai accusing him of threatening and asking for money.Another strange aspect of the case was that the CBI had immediately registered an FIR in the case, which is a direct violation of the CBI Manual and CVC Guidelines.In compliance with the resolution passed by the board of White Lion Real Estate Developers Private Limited and the letter written to the CBI, it has now been decided that Upendra Rai will be given a clean chit in this whole episode. Infact, it is vital to mention that when the first FIR was filed by the CBI on 1st May 2018, they could not find any solid basis to run the case against Upendra Rai.

On 6th December 2018, the Government of India also refused to prosecute Upendra Rai regarding the FIR registered against him for the airport entry pass. Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann decided to abolish the charge of the PC Act on 17th December 2018, after no government official was found involved in the entire case.Thereafter, in response to an RTI, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security had declared the airport entry pass issued to Upendra Rai completely valid and in response to the second RTI, the Special Branch of the Delhi Police had also cleared all his activities after which he was issued an airport entry pass. Upendra Rai had also received the necessary training for it. Summing up the whole scenario it is obvious now that the CBI has no solid ground against Upendra Rai to hold him against his will.

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