Prof. Shamnad Basheer had already covered the arrest of ND Kasturi, Deputy Registrar of Trademarks by CBI officials [available here ]. SPICY IP is now given to believe that “Manjal” file is one amongst the ten odd files files taken from Mrs. Kasturi’s office by CBI for further investigation. [ For our posts on “Manjal” issue, see here, here & here. ] Times of India reported the arrest a day after, available here. This post is a summary of that report.
Mrs. Kasturi was arrested for possessing assets which were allegedly disproportionate to her known sources of income. She was later remanded to judicial custody. The day-long searches were said to have resulted in the seizures of Rs 33 lakhs in cash, fixed deposits worth Rs 85 lakh and gold ornaments weighing about 3.8 kg!! The accused was also found to be in possession of immovable properties in Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. If this report is accurate, Mrs. Kasturi will have to spend a lot of time for explanation.
According to another Times of India report, CBI had kept her in watch for six months before arresting her. The tip off came from an applicant who was asked to pay bribe for speedy disposal of an application for Geographical Indication. As per the report, other officials are also being probed.
I happen to see the blog today only as a link was given to some blog of 30th Nov. Hence I am asking you the question below today.
You have stated that “Other officials are also being probed”. I would be obliged to know who other officials were being probed and the outcome thereof.
Lover of Spicy
Dear Lover of SpicyIP,
Unfortunately we don’t have with us any of these details. As you know the CBI is outside the purview of the RTI Act and we have no means of finding out who did what.
Best,
Prashant
2014 : current status of the case : the arrested official is practising IP laws at chennai and other states. She is now earning 100% more than what she accumulated! What a law?
2016 : news
https://spicyipweb.wpcomstaging.com/2016/01/trademarks-registry-official-among-three-convicted-in-graft-case.html#comment-46817
Hopefuly she gets in jail really.
she may even practice her IP law from jail also.
Present Dy registrar is also hand in glove with her ( May be learning the trade in a better way 🙂