A Delhi court has ordered framing of charges against a suspended Petroleum Ministry official for allegedly amassing assets exceeding his legal income by conniving with dealers in selling adulterated petroleum products.

Finding a prima facie case against suspended Joint Director (Investigation) Uday Shankar of the Anti-adulteration Cell in the Ministry of Petroleum, Special CBI Judge Rakesh Syal ordered framing of charges under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

"...Prima-facie, there are grounds for presuming that accused Shankar, a public servant has committed criminal misconduct i.e. on May 21, 2004, he and his family members were in possession of assets in their names as well as benami, to the tune of Rs 1.11 crore, disproportionate to his and his family's known sources of income, for which he could not satisfactorily account.

"Thus, a prima-facie case under Section 13 (2) read with Section 13 (1) (e) of the PC Act is made out against accused Shankar," the court said.

The judge also ordered framing of charges against his alleged accomplice Sanjeev Kumar, saying prima facie it appeared that he was actively involved with Shankar in various monetary transactions and acquiring movable and immovable properties on his behalf, during his tenure in the office from 1998 to 2004.

"He (Sanjeev) abetted Shankar in acquisition of assets disproportionate to his known resources of income. Therefore, prima-facie, a case under Section 109 IPC read with 13 (2) read with Section 13 (1) (e) of the PC Act is made out against accused Sanjeev," it said.

The court has slated September 22 for formally framing charges against the duo as Sanjeev "is stated to be busy in rituals, in relation to the death of his mother-in-law till September 19."

The CBI had alleged Shankar was in the habit of taking illegal gratifications and Sanjeev was closely associated with his corrupt activities and used to collect the amount.

It was also alleged that Shankar had acquired movable and immovable properties in his name as well as in names of his his family members. He had also purchased some benami assets between April 1, 1998 and May 21, 2004, the agency had said.

The court earlier had framed charges against three persons, Shankar, Sanjeev and businessman S K Gupta under the PC Act and Indian Penal Code for allegedly taking and giving illegal gratifications respectively for sale of adulterated petroleum products.

The court had said there was prima facie evidence on record to show that a conspiracy was hatched among the accused to sell adulterated petroleum products for which the officer received illegal gratification of Rs 7 lakh from Gupta.

Charge-sheet against the three in respect of the allegations was filed separately.

All of them were arrested by CBI on May 22, 2004 and the CBI had alleged that the officer was apprehended while he was taking bribe.