Allowing a criminal revision application from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Bombay High Court (HC) on Wednesday quashed and set aside a Thane special court’s order, which granted bail to three people in an alleged ₹ 40 lakh bribery case after holding their arrests to be “illegal” on grounds that the procedure prescribed by law had not been followed.
the agency could not trace one of them, the CGST additional commissioner While the high court remanded the three accused to CBI’s custody for two days. The trio were arrested by the CBI, a day before they got the bail from the Thane court on August 28, which was subsequently challenged by the agency in the high court. As part of the case probe, the CBI arrested Sinha, Rajput and Kantheti on August 27 and August 28, and produced them before a Thane special court for remand on August 28.
The CBI had sought five days’ police custody of the accused persons for custodial interrogation but the special court had rejected CBI’s request for the custody of the accused persons, held the arrests to be “illegal” and released the accused persons on bail.
The high court’s order remanded the three accused persons, Vinay Kantheti, additional commissioner (GST), CGST Raigad; Rakesh Sinha, superintendent (GST), CGST Raigad; and another person Narinder Rajput, to two days’ CBI custody.
The high court, after examining the record, found that “the grounds of arrest had been communicated and that the relevant family members and advocates had been informed”, CBI officials said.
The CBI’s case officials however allegedly could not trace Kantheti on Wednesday after the high court’s order, officials said. “Efforts are being made to trace and apprehend Vinay Kumar Kantheti, additional commissioner, CGST, in accordance with law.
Pursuant to the high court’s order, Sinha and Rajput were taken into CBI’s custody for their custodial interrogation, officials said. Investigation in the case continues,” an official said.
