Mumbai, Jun 4 (PTI) The CBI has approached a city court seeking custody of deputy registrar of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai bench, arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 3 lakh from a businessman for helping to favourably settle ownership dispute of a hotel.

The CBI on May 29 arrested deputy registrar Charan Pratap Singh and his alleged aide Karsan Ganesh Ahir, who received the bribe amount on behalf of the accused officer. The central probe agency had produced the duo before a special CBI on the same day for seeking their remand.

The court, however, had then denied CBI the custody of the duo on the grounds the bribe amount has been recovered and there are no other grounds for remand.

The agency has now moved a fresh plea for their remand in the court, saying the duo need to be interrogated about alleged involvement of other senior officials of NCLT in the bribery case.

The role of other suspected public servants and private accused persons, who were part of criminal conspiracy, also needed to be probed, it argued.

The CBI contended custodial interrogation is very much required for proper investigation of the offence. The investigating officer in the case did not get sufficient time to interrogate the arrested accused on May 29.

Meanwhile, Singh, through his lawyer Shalabh Saxena, has sought bail, saying there was no direct evidence against him.

Both the pleas will be heard next week.

The agency registered the case on May 14 against Singh on a complaint from a hotel owner who was having an ownership dispute with his brothers.

The ownership dispute matter was filed before the NCLT Mumbai Court number IV on November 2, 2020, and has since been pending.

It has been alleged that on May 11, the accused deputy registrar demanded an undue advantage of Rs 3.50 lakh from the complainant for helping him in the matter by using his contacts in NCLT, Mumbai, and getting the matter settled in his favour.

Later, the accused agreed to accept Rs 3 lakh as bribe.

The central probe agency laid a trap in which Ahir was caught while accepting the bribe amount on behalf of the accused deputy registrar. PTI AVI RSY

Bribery investigation seeks custodial interrogation to probe alleged involvement of additional public servants and coconspirators. CBI seeks custodial remand of an NCLT deputy registrar and an alleged aide arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe to influence an ownership dispute; the aide was caught in a trap while accepting payment. The agency argues custodial interrogation is necessary to probe the involvement of other suspected public servants and private coconspirators, and to allow the investigating officer to conduct fuller questioning; remand and bail applications remain pending.