The court has moved a delicate CBI case forward, with an order to frame charges on two of its own while two others are free to go. A DSP and a Selection Grade-II are in the crosshairs for what is said to be a quid pro quo with investigations, and it is a clear sign of the new level of scrutiny being applied to the agency from within.
What the court ordered
On May 23, 2026, Special Judge Atul Krishna Agrawal made his call: charges will be framed against DSP R.K. Rishi and SG II’s Samir Kumar Singh. In the judge’s view, there is ample cause to act under section 120 B and 381 of the IPC as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act.
This comes on the heels of a CBI chargesheet which had Mr. Rishi, Inspector Kapil Dhanked, Mr. Singh and M/s Frost International Ltd in its sights. But the court has drawn a line and discharged both the inspector and the firm at the same time.
Why two were discharged
The judge saw a gap in the story the prosecution was telling about how the bribes were doled out. The CBI’s position was that Mr. Rishi was on the take and passed some of it on to Mr. Dhanked and Mr. Singh, but you can’t make that stick without a witness, and the court found none.
Then there is the matter of the money itself – or rather, the lack of any of it being recovered from the accused. The court called the case on that front ‘quite weak’. It also put aside the confessions put in the record for Mr. Dhanked and Mr. Singh, deeming them of no use as evidence.
So far as a link between Mr. Dhanked and the scheme is concerned, the judge could not find one. ‘It is on the border of suspicion, but not of a gravity to warrant charges,’ the court put it.
Frost International Ltd, too, has been given a pass. The allegations here, the court said, were little more than presumptions and hinged on a statement from Mr. Dhanked that the law would not allow in.
Allegations that survived scrutiny
As for why Mr. Singh and Mr. Rishi are still in the dock, it is the evidence of them having where they should not be with CBI files and the resulting leaks that has won the day for the prosecution.
In its order, the court put on record that Mr. Singh, in his capacity as a public servant, is said to have given the DSP some inside track on cases still under probe. The judge was clear on one point: by getting at documents the head of the department didn’t know about, Mr. Singh has been accused of what can only be called 'theft of information‘. Frost International Ltd is one of the firms whose data he is alleged to have passed on to Mr. Rishi.
Then there are the numbers. The court pointed to Mr. Singh’s bank statements, which show more than Rs 4 lakh in cash put in over a few days in April 2019 and another Rs 1.5 lakh or so in November of that year. That is a problem for a public servant, since the rules don’t allow for cash handling or deposits above Rs 20,000.
Here is what you need to know from the ruling:
– Charges will be made out for DSP R.K. Rishi and SG II Samir Kumar Singh
– Inspector Kapil Dhanked and Frost International Ltd are off the hook
– No bribe money has been recovered
– Any confessions have been ruled out
– The unauthorised access is being treated as ‘theft of information’
How the CBI put it together
The CBI’s version of events is that Mr. Rishi, Mr. Dhanked and Mr. Singh, with the help of some private individuals, were “compromising the integrity of investigation of certain cases on extraneous pecuniary consideration”. They put in a chargesheet with the three of them and M/s Frost International Ltd in it.
But the court has had none of the confessions and found no hard evidence or witnesses to support the idea of a bribe being split up. Still, it says there is enough to put the conspiracy and the so-called information theft to the test in open court. So it has directed that Mr. Singh be charged under IPC 120 B with 381 and the PC Act, and the same for Mr. Rishi.
These are not allegations to be brushed aside at this juncture, the court made plain. It is up to Mr. Singh to make sense of where that 2019 cash in his account came from.
What now
This decision whittles the case down to two CBI men who will have to stand trial. It also makes a point of the lack of proof that got the other two let go. From here on, it will be on the prosecution to back up the claims of unauthorised access and the deposits in Mr. Singh’s name.
You could say the stakes are high for an agency like the CBI when a court goes along with charges of 'theft of information‘ and conspiracy. The order is putting the alleged misuse of case files under a microscope, even if it is turning a blind eye to the unproven bribery.
As for the ones who have been discharged, they are done on the basis of thin evidence and statements the court won’t count. For Mr. Rishi and Mr. Singh, however, the way is set for a tussle in the courtroom over what the CBI has left in its case.
