E-Paper
Corruption case: Drug officer’s anticipatory bail plea dismissed
The court, while dismissing the plea, held that if granted plea, Chaudhary may attempt to hamper the investigation
The additional sessions court on Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of drug control officer Sunil Chaudhary, who along with a middleman, is facing a corruption case.
The court, while dismissing the plea, held that if granted plea, Chaudhary may attempt to hamper the investigation. Further, letting him off may not send out the right message to society.
The case, under Sections 8 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, was registered on the complaint of chemist Dev Sharan Saha, who runs an orthopaedic surgical shop at Dhanas.
Saha said that about a month ago, Chaudhary and Narula had pointed out discrepancies in his shop. The owner had accepted the shortcomings and promised to rectify it, but the middleman, identified as Ashok Narula, had insisted on sealing his shop.
Narula later told the owner that the matter can be settled for ₹1 lakh. Ultimately, it was settled for ₹80,000. But as Saha could not arrange the money, he went to Chaudhary’s office to request him to adjust with a lesser amount. Saha stated that as he received the notice after some days, he again approached Narula who asked him to bring ₹80,000.
On September 27, Narula was apprehended red-handed while accepting a bribe of ₹25,000. Chaudhary, however, managed to escape. During interrogation, Narula disclosed that he had settled numerous files of drug licenses through Sunil Chaudhary and given him bribe in all the files settled through him. The vigilance said that despite notice, Chaudhary did not join the investigation
Pleading innocence, Chaudhary, 47, filed an anticipatory bail application in the local court stating that all the allegations levelled by Narula are false.
Public prosecutor JP Singh argued that there is “sufficient evidence” against Sunil Chaudhary with regard to demanding illegal gratification from the complainant. Also, the close relation of Chaudhary with Narula has been proved through talks that took place between them on phone.
Requesting the court to dismiss the application and direct Chaudhary to join investigation, public prosecutor JP Singh stated: “Custodial interrogation of Chaudhary is required for the examination of CDR, Whatsapp call log, expert report of cell phone examination; to know about deals executed between them.”
