The Delhi High Court stayed its order initiating perjury proceedings against five former CBI officials. The interim relief will continue until February amid claims of inadequate notice and procedural unfairness.Image used for representational purposes onlyNewdelhi,Nov 3, 2026 17:32 ISTThe Delhi High Court has put on hold its October 6 order directing the initiation of perjury proceedings against five former senior CBI officials for allegedly making a factually incorrect statement in a case, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Justice Mini Pushkarna, who heard the matter following a change in the roster, listed it for hearing in February.
The directions in the October 6 judgment will remain in abeyance until the next hearing, the court said.The judge observed that the applicants had established a prima facie case and that the balance of convenience was in their favour. She added that they would suffer irreparable injury if interim relief was not granted.Retired CBI deputy superintendents of police Sushil Dewan and Raman Tyagi had approached the High Court seeking the recall of the October 6 order.
In that order, Justice Madhu Jain had directed perjury proceedings against them and three other former senior CBI officials. In his petition, Dewan alleged that he had not been served a copy of the appeal, additional documents or other pleadings filed by former IRS officer Ashok Kumar Aggarwal.The petition alleged that Aggarwal's application seeking an early hearing was neither served on Dewan nor on his counsel at their registered address.
It claimed that the application was instead deliberately sent to an incorrect email address that had never belonged to Dewan or his lawyer. Dewan said the High Court, without notifying him, advanced the hearing from November 4 to September 22, heard the appeal in his absence and reserved its judgment on the same day.He further submitted that although the appeal sought the initiation of a complaint against six officers, only he was made a party.
The other five officers were not given notice as required under Section 341 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, he said while seeking the recall of the order.The case relates to Aggarwal's discharge from a CBI case in 2016 on the ground that the sanction was invalid. He later sought the release of documents seized in the case and asked for perjury proceedings against the CBI officers.A special court dismissed his plea last year, following which he approached the High Court.
The CBI had told the trial court that correspondence with the administrative ministry over further legal action was under way and that returning the seized documents at that stage would not be prudent, PTI reported.In her October 6 order, Justice Jain set aside the trial court's refusal to act on Aggarwal's perjury plea. She held that the CBI could not present an internal proposal as correspondence with the ministry and allowed Aggarwal's application under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.The court had clarified that the lower court should proceed independently and should not be influenced by its observations.
The directions to begin perjury proceedings will now remain on hold until the High Court hears the matter again in February.- Ends