NSE phone-tapping case: Former city police chief Sanjay Pandey walks out of Tihar jail

Former city police commissioner Sanjay Pandey was released from Tihar jail on Wednesday night, hours after a special CBI court in Delhi granted him bail in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) phone-tapping case

Former city police commissioner Sanjay Pandey was released from Tihar jail on Wednesday night, hours after a special CBI court in Delhi granted him bail in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) phone-tapping case.

Mumbai, India - June 19, 2022: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar and Joint Commissioner of Police Vishwas Nangare Patil, Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey and Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil listen to a police official playing flute instrument during the "Sunday Street Initiative" at Marine Drive, in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, June 19, 2022. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

The Delhi high court had on December 8 granted him bail in a connected money-laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Special CBI judge Sunena Sharma of Rouse Avenue District Court primarily relied on the HC’s observations - none of the ingredients of the scheduled offences (charges levelled against him by the agency) were made out against him – to grant Pandey relief.

The court ordered that Pandey be released on furnishing a personal bond of ₹1 lakh and two sureties in the same amount. He was directed to surrender his passport and provide his mobile number to the investigating officer and not to leave India during the bail period.

On July 7, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) booked the retired IPS officer for allegedly tapping the phones of NSE employees for eight years – between 2009 and 2017 – using devices called as Raid Servers.

Four days later, on July 11, the ED registered a case against Pandey.

However, he was first arrested by the ED on July 19, much before the CBI took him into custody on September 24.

The high court, while granting bail, had said that though the CBI had booked Pandey for cheating, criminal breach of trust and also on bribery charges, none of the ingredients of these offences were found in the case. The bribery charges were not applicable to the case as there was no allegation of anyone demanding or accepting a bribe, it said.

“In the light of the observations made by the high court regarding lack of essential ingredients of the predicate offences, this court is inclined to grant bail to the accused/applicant even in the instant case,” special judge Sharma said.

She further said that section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 stipulates far more stringent conditions and since the high court had already granted him bail, there was no reason for the special CBI court to decline him bail.

Pandey, a 1986-batch IPS officer, was appointed as the 45th police commissioner on February 18. He retired from service on June 30. He is an IIT-Kanpur alumni and holds an engineering degree in information technology. Between April 2021 and February 2022, Pandey served as the acting director general of police, Maharashtra State Security Corporation, as his appointment was not ratified by the Union Public Service Commission. He was eventually appointed as the city police chief following the Bombay high court’s intervention. Pandey was also the additional director general (ADG), Home Guards, and ADG, Controller of Legal Metrology. He has already served in the city as the DCP, zone 8, and DCP, Economic Offences Wing.