The High Court said that it is not inclined to grant relief as the investigation is in its initial stage.
Delhi High Court rejects CBI officer’s bail plea Abhishek Tiwari and a lawyer, who was arrested in connection with the alleged leak of the preliminary investigation report of the investigating agency into a corruption Case against former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.
The High Court said that it is not inclined to grant relief as the investigation is in its initial stage.
It said it is established law that the court not only has to take into account the nature of the charges, but if there is a reasonable apprehension of tampering with the evidence, bail can be denied.
“The allegation in the present FIR is based on tampering of evidence; Thus considering the preliminary stage of investigation, I am not inclined to grant bail to the petitioners at this stage. The petition is dismissed,” said Justice Yogesh Khanna.
The court passed a common order on the bail pleas of Mr. Tiwari and Nagpur-based advocate Anand Dilip Daga.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had registered a case against its sub-inspector Tiwari, advocate Daga, who was acting as an advocate for Mr Deshmukh and others, on various charges, including illegal bribery.
Daga was arrested for allegedly trying to reverse the initial directed by the Bombay High Court Investigation against Mr. Deshmukh.
The counsel for both the accused submitted that CBI was granted only four days remand and after that, further remand was denied by the trial court and both the men are in custody for 40 days and the agency has given one for interview. The application was not even registered. , hence not necessary for further investigation and he is granted bail.
However, the CBI opposed the bail pleas saying that the offenses committed by both the persons are serious in nature and no investigation can proceed if the counsel and the investigating officer of the accused join hands to benefit someone.
The CBI said the allegations are serious and the release of the accused may be detrimental to a fair investigation.
The investigation is still in the initial stage and the accused can influence the investigation and tamper with the evidence and if allowed to be released on bail at this stage, he will stop the proceedings.
Tiwari and Daga had challenged the trial court’s order dismissing their bail plea.
A preliminary inquiry (PE) report that allegedly gave Mr Deshmukh a clean chit was leaked earlier, causing embarrassment to the agency.
The CBI launched an investigation into the leak which revealed that PE’s findings were affected.
“The efforts of Anil Deshmukh’s team were in contempt of the Bombay High Court, which had directed that all concerned should cooperate fully with the CBI while conducting the PE. In this case, it appears that Mr Deshmukh’s team tried to reverse the PE,” the CBI had said.
The CBI had initiated a PE on the orders of the Bombay High Court, which had issued the direction while hearing a PIL on corruption charges against Mr. Deshmukh.
In the FIR, the CBI has booked Mr Deshmukh and others under sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to criminal conspiracy and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act for “attempting to obtain undue advantage for undue and dishonest performance of public duty”. was registered.
The allegations against Mr Deshmukh came to the fore after Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh was sacked.
He was sacked after policeman Sachin Waje’s alleged role in the case of an explosive-laden SUV parked outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence came to light. Waze was arrested by the National Investigation Agency.
The FIR alleged that Mr Deshmukh “and others” exerted undue influence on the transfer and posting of officers.
.