Bhubaneswar: The High Court has granted bail to Deputy Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Chintan Raghuvanshi, who was arrested by the CBI on bribery charges in May this year.
The High Court has ordered that the lower court release him on bail on the production of two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each. The petitioner will surrender his passport to the lower court. He will not leave the country without the permission of the court.
After going on bail, he will submit his residential address, mobile number and other details to the lower court and the investigating officer. Along with this, the High Court has imposed a condition that he will cooperate in the investigation. If the bail conditions are violated, the lower court can cancel the bail granted to the applicant, the High Court said.
A bench comprising Justice Gaurishankar Satpathy passed the order after hearing the regular bail application of Raghuvanshi. Along with this, the High Court has also ordered the release of Bhaktivinod Behera, who was arrested by the CBI in this case, on bail on the same conditions.
The Orissa High Court had earlier granted interim bail for 10 days to him.
The interim bail was granted on humanitarian grounds, allowing Raghuvanshi to see his newborn baby and attend family events following the birth. The court had earlier heard his petition seeking bail in view of his wife’s pregnancy. However, by the time the petition was under consideration, his wife had already delivered the baby.
Raghuvanshi then filed a revised plea, requesting temporary relief to be with his family. Granting the request, Justice G. Satapathy directed Raghuvanshi to surrender and return to custody immediately after the 10-day bail period ends. The court warned that any violation of this condition would invite coercive action.
Raghuvanshi, a 2013-batch IRS officer, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on May 29 after he was allegedly caught accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a businessman in Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar. The businessman had earlier lodged a complaint with the CBI, alleging that Raghuvanshi had demanded Rs 2 crore while threatening him with ED raids.
Acting on the complaint, the CBI laid a trap and caught the ED official red-handed while accepting a part of the bribe amount.
