India News | Chhattisgarh NAN Scam:SC to Consider Listing ED's Plea for Cancellation of Pre-arrest Bail of 2 IAS

New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider for hearing a plea of the Enforcement Directorate challenging the grant of anticipatory bail to two senior IAS officers by the Chhattisgarh High Court in a money laundering case arising out of multi-crore rupees 'Nagrik Apurti Nigam' (NAN) scam in the state.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, that the plea against the grant of bail needed urgent hearing in view of the fact that the evidence has been “cooked up” allegedly in favour of the accused senior officers in the case.

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“Here is one matter from Chhattisgarh and there is a kind of disturbing situation with a constitutional functionary and the grant of bail and I am seeking transfer (of the case). Every day the evidence is being cooked up,” the law officer said.

Seeking urgent listing of the case, Mehta said that a notice has been issued on the ED's plea seeking cancellation of bail, and the reply and rejoinders have also been filed.

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“All right. Give the number (of the case),” said the bench which also comprised justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli.

The Chhattisgarh High Court had earlier granted anticipatory bail to IAS officers, Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla, in the money laundering case related to the Chhattisgarh Civil Supply Corporation scam.

In 2019, the ED had lodged an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which was based on the FIR and charge sheet filed by the Chhattisgarh police's economic offences wing (EOW) and the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in the civil supply scam.

The ED then filed an appeal against the bail order in the money laundering case which was registered in the NAN scam in which the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Raipur had registered the FIR.

The FIR alleged wide-scale corrupt practices in procurement, transportation of rice and other food grains which involved officials and others related to the state Civil Supplies Corporation, Raipur.

The central probe agency has alleged that the accused officers “time and again” evaded the proceedings established by law and have been successfully able to thwart an impartial investigation and trial due to their political clout.

Referring to an income tax raid, it said the mobile phones records of two accused officers revealed that they and others have weakened the offence of corruption by procuring favourable reports from prosecuting agencies and the state SIT.

The ED has also filed a separate petition seeking transfer of trial outside Chhattisgarh and transfer of further investigation with an impartial agency like CBI.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)