Antrix-Devas Case: Delhi Court Returns CBI Chargesheet, Says No Territorial Jurisdiction

Special Judge (CBI) Atul Krishna Agarwal of Rouse Avenue Court passed the order on March 11 while allowing an application moved by Veena Sri Ram Rao, former Additional Secretary of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), who is among the accused in the case.

Rao had sought transfer of the case to a competent court, contending that the alleged conspiracy and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code took place in Bengaluru and not in Delhi.

Agreeing with the submission, the court observed that a perusal of the chargesheet and accompanying documents clearly indicated that the majority of acts leading to the alleged offences were committed within the territorial jurisdiction of Bengaluru.

“Having considered all the facts and case laws on the point, in my considered view, this court does not have territorial jurisdiction to try the present case/offences therein, since the substantial portion of the acts leading to the present offences, have not taken place within the territorial jurisdiction of Delhi,” the court held.

Accordingly, the court returned the chargesheet to the CBI, granting liberty to the investigating agency to present it before the appropriate court having jurisdiction, likely in Bengaluru.

The case pertains to a controversial 2005 agreement between Antrix Corporation Limited, the commercial arm of ISRO, and Devas Multimedia Private Limited for leasing satellite spectrum. Under the agreement, Antrix was to build and launch two satellites and lease S-band spectrum capacity to Devas for providing multimedia services. The deal later came under scrutiny amid allegations that valuable spectrum was allotted to Devas at throwaway prices, causing wrongful loss to the public exchequer.

In 2015, the CBI registered an FIR against former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair and other officials, alleging cheating and corruption. The agency subsequently filed a chargesheet in 2016, followed by a supplementary chargesheet in 2019, accusing the officials of causing a loss of approximately ₹578 crore by abusing their official positions to favour a private entity.

Meanwhile, the dispute also led to international arbitration, with Devas securing an award of over $560 million from the International Chamber of Commerce in 2015. However, the award was set aside by the Delhi High Court in 2022, a decision that was later upheld by a Division Bench of the High Court as well as the Supreme Court of India in 2023.