Court Closes Corruption Case Against Ex-Aide Of Raman Singh

A trial court in Raipur accepted the closure report filed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Anti-Corruption Bureau after no case of disproportionate assets was made against Aman Singh - the principal secretary to former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

The court in an order dated April 16 accepted the closure report filed by the state EOW-ACB after finding that no case of disproportionate assets could be made out against Mr Singh and his wife Yasmin Singh.

An FIR was lodged based on claims by an RTI activist when the previous Congress government under Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was in power in the state.

Three years of investigation by the state EOW-ACB failed to substantiate the allegations of disproportionate assets against Mr Singh and his wife, the court order said.

The closure report was filed by the EOW of the state government last December before the current BJP government took office.

The trial court has now accepted the closure report and quashed the FIR.

Aman Singh, a former Indian Revenue Service officer, was a powerful bureaucrat in the Raman Singh-led BJP government in Chhattisgarh and the principal secretary to the former Chief Minister. He resigned from service and joined the Adani group in November 2022.

In February 2020, the Chhattisgarh EOW registered an FIR against Mr Singh and his wife in an alleged disproportionate assets case.

The Bilaspur High Court quashed the FIR two years ago but the Supreme Court set the order aside in March 2023 and said that it was desirable that High Courts do not quash FIRs in corruption cases at the investigation stage even if it is suspected that a new government registered the case against officers of the previous dispensation.

And now the trial court has accepted the closure report filed by the EOW and scrapped the FIR.

Noted criminal lawyer and senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who represented the Singhs, said the FIR under the Bhupesh Baghel government was used to "unjustly target Aman Singh, an honest officer, and his wife Yasmin Singh, a renowned artist, forcing them to undergo trials and tribulations for several years".

"However, justice has finally been served with their discharge by the court," he said.

Echoing this sentiment, former Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Sunil Kumar, who worked with both the Congress and the BJP Chief Ministers, spoke about the adverse impacts of political victimisation on governance and the morale of public servants.

"Officers of integrity being targeted for political considerations is demoralising because not everyone can withstand the personal costs of incorruptibility in public service," he said.

Despite claiming the charges were politically motivated, Aman Singh fully cooperated with the subsequent investigation, which ultimately vindicated him and his wife as no case of disproportionate assets was made out.

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