A Delhi court today fixed November 3 to pass its order on framing charges against suspended Central Excise Commissioner Anup Kumar Srivastava and four others for their alleged involvement in a graft case.

Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh, who had earlier reserved his order on framing charges for today after hearing arguments from the CBI and the counsel for the five accused, deferred it to November 3.

Srivastava, along with Central Excise Superintendent Lallan Ojha and Hemant Gandhi, an alleged middleman, is accused of taking hefty bribe from two accused businessmen Dilip Aggarwal and Anand Aggarwal for not taking any action against them in an excise evasion case.

The CBI had arrested Srivastava, Ojha and Gandhi for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 60 lakh from Aggarwals to shield them in the excise duty evasion case.
The agency had filed its charge sheet in the case against the five accused on February 29 this year.

The CBI had registered the case against the accused under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.

The agency had said Gandhi was in touch with Srivastava, Ojha and others and was acting as a middleman for them to obtain the bribe from the businessmen.

It had alleged Ojha had conducted a raid along with other excise department officials at Aggarwals' godown and conspired with Srivastava, Gandhi and others for receiving a bribe of Rs 60 lakh for not taking any action against them.