The Supreme Court on Tuesday held Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Additional Director M Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt of court for transferring the investigating officer who was heading the Muzaffarpur shelter home probe, thereby violating the Court\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n
The order was passed by a bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi. Rao was sentenced till the rising of the Court and fined Rs. 1 lakh. S Bhasu Ram, in-charge Director of Prosecution CBI, was also held guilty of contempt and awarded the same punishment.<\/p>\n
The Court observed that the transfer orders were passed by Rao though he knew the Supreme Court order had said the investigation team should not be changed.<\/p>\n
On February 7 the Supreme Court bench criticised the CBI for transferring its former Joint Director A K Sharma, who was probing Bihar\u2019s shelter home cases, thereby violating the court’s order and directed its then interim chief M Nageswara Rao to personally appear before it on February 12.<\/p>\n
Rao had filed an affidavit stating that the transfer order was issued by mistake and offered unconditional apology. On Tuesday, Attorney General K K Venugopal, who appeared for Rao, appealed for leniency saying the mistake was \u201cnot wilful\u201d.<\/p>\n