SEEPZ corruption case: Court declares CBI’s arrest of one more accused illegal

A special court in Mumbai deemed the CBI's arrest of SEEPZ official Rekha Nair illegal, ordering her release in a corruption case involving bribes.

MUMBAI: A special court on Thursday declared the arrest of one more accused person arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a corruption case at the Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) as illegal and ordered her immediate release.

SEEPZ corruption case: Court declares CBI’s arrest of one more accused illegal

On December 19, the CBI had sought the arrest of SEEPZ assistant development commissioner Rekha Nair, claiming that she accepted a bribe of ₹2 lakh from another accused, Chanderpal Singh Chauhan, the joint development commissioner of the special economic zone. The CBI had submitted that it seized unaccounted money worth ₹47 lakh from Nair’s residence.

However, the court ruled that the CBI had failed to furnish the grounds for Nair’s arrest. A day earlier, the court had also ordered the release of two Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers and five others who were also arrested in the case for the same reason.

According to the CBI’s FIR filed on December 17, Chauhan, along with other SEEPZ officers and non-official persons, had allegedly taken a bribe for space allotment, disposal of imported goods not used in manufacturing, sale of duty-free imported goods, and favouring certain civil contractors.

The alleged corruption came to light after the agency conducted a surprise check at Chauhan’s office on December 17. A person called Manoj Joglekar allegedly admitted to taking bribes on behalf of SEEPZ officers.

Joglekar allegedly told CBI officers that bribes amounting to ₹60 lakh were collected and kept in envelopes with alphabetical codes written on each of them, meant for specific individuals who were receiving the money. As per the remand copy, 27 immovable property documents, luxury cars, and watches worth crores of rupees were seized from Chauhan’s residence.

On December 18, the CBI produced the six individuals, including two IRS officers—Chauhan and Dr Varawantkar Prasad Hanumantrao—before the special court and sought their custody remand to ascertain the end use of the collected bribes and unearth the larger conspiracy involving private entities. The CBI submitted that it wanted to question the officers about the acquisition of properties that were disproportionate to their income.

However, Chauhan’s lawyer, advocate Rahul Aggarwal, contended that the arrest was illegal as he was not provided with the grounds for arrest at the time of his client’s apprehension. He said the CBI arrested the SEEPZ officer before registering an FIR, at 10 am on December 17, but the agency misrepresented the time of arrest as 12.35 am on December 18.

Aggarwal argued that the arrest was, therefore, in violation of the fundamental rights of the accused since they were being produced before the special court after more than 24 hours. In Nair’s case, the defence argued that the arrest was illegal since she was not given a notice and a sanction under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The special court agreed with the defence’s argument and directed the accused to be released. It rejected the CBI’s remand application and called the arrest of the seven individuals illegal. Nair’s arrest was also declared illegal by the court on the same grounds.