SC stalls cremation of PF scam accused

The supreme court (SC) directed the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday not to cremate Ashutosh Asthana, a treasury employee who admitted to having withdrawn Rs23 crore from the accounts of court employees at the behest of local judges and passing it on to a dozen sitting high court judges and an apex court justice among others.

Asthana, 43, had told authorities that he feared for his life in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad. He died under mysterious circumstances on Saturday. Initial reports suggested he was poisoned but the autopsy could not pinpoint the cause of his death.

A lawyers’ association has filed an application pleading that his body be preserved for further examination and the viscera be kept under the court’s seal.

A bench of justices DK Jain and HL Dattu ordered the body should not be cremated “if it has not been until now”, till further orders. They will hear the application moved by senior lawyer Anil B Divan on Tuesday. Divan said there was some uncertainty regarding the cremation of Asthana’s body and wanted the CBI to intervene.

Nahar Singh Yadav, who is heading the lawyers’ body and is counsel for the Ghaziabad Bar Association, said Asthana may have died of poisoning.

During interrogation, Asthana had revealed the names of 36 judges of various courts as beneficiaries of the scam.

The CBI is presently investigating the case under the apex court's direction. Asthana was arrested in April 2008.