A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of alleged middleman Manoj Prasad arrested in connection with the alleged bribery case against CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana.
Special CBI judge Santosh Snehi Mann denied bail to Prasad contending it was not a fit stage to grant him relief.
The CBI had opposed the application saying that the accused was an influential person and if released on bail, he may tamper with the ongoing probe and flee from justice.
In his bail application, Manoj Prasad had averred that he was not required for the custodial interrogation and no purpose will be served by keeping him in further custody.
Manoj Prasad who was arrested on October 17 is at present undergoing judicial custody.
The court had on October 31 granted bail to co-accused and CBI DSP Devender Kumar after the agency did not oppose his bail plea.
The CBI had registered an FIR against Asthana, Kumar and two private persons on a written complaint of Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Sana on October 15.
Besides Asthana, Manoj Prasad and Devender Kumar, another alleged middleman Somesh Prasad has also been named as an accused in the case
The FIR had alleged that Devender Kumar, being the Investigating Officer (IO) in the case against meat exporter Moin Qureshi, was repeatedly calling the complainant to the CBI office to harass him and compel him to pay a bribe of Rs 5 crore for getting a clean chit in the case.
The complaint had also alleged that a part of the bribe was paid by Sana. Earlier, through a complaint to the Cabinet Secretary on August 24, Asthana had alleged that Sana who is an accused in the Moin Qureshi case had allegedly paid a bribe of Rs 2 crore to get relief in the case.