A local court on Friday granted bail to Punjab senior IAS officer Sanjay Popli in an Arms Act case registered against him in June 2022.
The court of judicial magistrate first class, Mayank Marwaha, granted the bail against bail bonds of ₹80,000 with one surety.
Popli, however, will continue to remain in jail, as his bail plea in the corruption case from the same month was recently dismissed by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Opposing his bail in the Arms Act case, the public prosecutor said if Popli was released, he could threaten and influence the witnesses.
The Arms Act case was registered at the Sector-11 police station on June 21 last year after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau recovered 41 cartridges of 7.6 mm, two cartridges of .32 bore, and 30 cartridges of .22 bore, that were not endorsed on his arms licence, during the search of his house after his arrest in the corruption case.
The 2008-batch IAS officer was arrested the day before in a case pertaining to the allotment of tenders when he was posted as the chief executive officer of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
His arrest had come on the statement of a Karnal-based government contractor, Sanjay Kumar, and the video evidence submitted by him, besides the statement of board’s assistant secretary Sandeep Wats, who was also arrested in the case. Popli was accused of demanding a bribe at the rate of 1% for allotment of a tender and receiving ₹3.5 lakh as such.
{{/usCountry}}His arrest had come on the statement of a Karnal-based government contractor, Sanjay Kumar, and the video evidence submitted by him, besides the statement of board’s assistant secretary Sandeep Wats, who was also arrested in the case. Popli was accused of demanding a bribe at the rate of 1% for allotment of a tender and receiving ₹3.5 lakh as such.
{{/usCountry}}