The officers had approached the high court after the ED issued summons to them. The Chhattisgarh High Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to two IAS officers named in a Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam case.
The officers had approached the high court after the ED issued summons to them. They alleged in their petition that ED officials were working in a “mala fide whimsical manner” and are “motivated by political vendetta”.
Granting Alok Shukla, secretary (education) and Anil Tuteja, secretary (industries) anticipatory bails, the court ordered, “In the event of arrest of the Applicants in connection with the aforesaid crime/ECIR case, they shall be released on anticipatory bail on each of them furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rupees Ten Lakhs with two solvent sureties each for a sum of Rupees Five Lakhs to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer/Presiding Officer of the concerned Trial Court.”
The IAS officers had been booked during the tenure of the previous BJP government.
“The first FIR was registered by Anti Corruption Bureau in 2015 against Shiv Shankar Bhatt and 26 other people. My client’s name was added in the supplementary chargesheet filed in 2019 despite not having any direct evidence or any recovery. Fourteen months later, ED sent them summons… Despite the case being registered by the ED Raipur, they were called to Delhi office, which is out of jurisdiction,” Ayush Bhatia, counsel for Shukla, said.