SC dismisses plea of Chhattisgarh Govt against bail granted to senior IPS officer in corruption case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal of the Chhattisgarh government challenging the High Court order granting bail to suspended Additional Director General of Police officer Gurjinder Pal Singh in a case filed against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegations of disproportionate assets.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Hima Kohli declined the plea of the Chhattisgarh government seeking the cancellation of bail of a former senior IPS officer and observed that its appeal was without merit.

"This present application is nothing but a totally unwarranted exercise by the State. While considering bail, High Court does not have a business to deal with the status of the applicant and it is about the individual right. In disproportionate assets cases, most are documentary evidence where there is no chance of tampering. The plea is total without merit and is dismissed," the bench said.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the state government, argued that Singh has indulged in tampering with evidence and the High Court has ignored it.

On May 12, the High Court granted bail to Singh in the corruption case. The Supreme Court had on May 4 declined to grant interim bail to Singh and asked the High Court to dispose of his bail matter, pending adjudication before it, expeditiously.

The state government had said that the information received by EoW/ACB indicated disproportionality and discrepancy between the assets, expenditure and income of Singh and consequently, an FIR was registered on July 29, 2021.

Singh, a 1994-batch IPS officer, served as Additional Director General of ACB and EOW before he was transferred to the state police academy in June 2021. (ANI)