Mishra is an accused in a case registered by the CBI under provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The special CBI Court in Chandigarh has issued a warrant of arrest against municipal corporation (MC) Chandigarh official Anubhav Mishra for allegedly evading the investigation into a case involving Smart City related banking transactions.
Special judge Bhawna Jain passed the order on Friday on an application moved by the CBI seeking a non-bailable warrant against Mishra. His petition is listed for October 13. The court also noted that the high court, in its August 5 order, had not stayed Mishra’s arrest. It consequently directed that a warrant of arrest be issued against him for August 31 and the application seeking the warrant was disposed of.
The court noted that despite repeated efforts and notices issued by the investigating agency, Mishra had not joined the investigation. He subsequently approached the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking anticipatory bail. The CBI court observed that, prima facie, Mishra appeared to be deliberately evading the investigation despite being aware of the requirement to join it.
The court said there were reasonable grounds to believe that he was unlikely to join the process of law and that his presence was essential for a fair and complete investigation.
The court noted that Mishra’s third application seeking anticipatory bail had been dismissed, while his earlier two applications were withdrawn.
