The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted a closure report to a city special court in a January 2024 case related to a public sector company insurance official. The official, Dinesh Bobhate, is an aide of senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai, and the case registered against him and his wife relates to possession of disproportionate assets worth ₹2.58 crore.
Based on the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also initiated a money-laundering case in February 2024. However, the CBI, now sought to close the case– it submitted to the court that the allegations against Bobhate and his wife had “not been substantiated” and therefore the “offence could not be established against both the accused”. The CBI requested the court to accept the closure report and to return the documents and articles seized during the investigation to the couple.
The court on Saturday said that the perusal of the CBI’s case papers showed that during the course of the investigation, the case’s investigating officer found that the “absolute disproportionate amount” was “too insignificant to justify the prosecution” and therefore the allegation could not be substantiated. The court accepted the closure report, saying it was doing so “considering all the facts”.
The court also took into account the statement of the CBI officer, on whose complaint the case was registered in January 2024.
The complainant submitted that after going through the closure report, she had “no objection” to its acceptance. As part of its probe, the CBI had scanned the details of income, expenditure, movable and immovable assets of the accused and his wife.
When the FIR was registered by the CBI’s Mumbai unit on January 17, 2024, Bobhate was a senior assistant at the New India Assurance Company Limited (NIACL). The FIR had accused Bobhate of being in possession of disproportionate assets worth ₹2.58 crore, around 36 per cent more than his known sources of income during his service period of April 2014 to July 2023.
The CBI registered the case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code pertaining to disproportionate assets and abetment. The accused official had denied any wrongdoing.