Bhubaneswar's Orissa High Court Grants Bail to ED Deputy Director in Bribery Case

Bail Granted to ED Official Amid Bribery Allegations

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court has approved bail for Chintan Raghuvanshi, the Deputy Director at the Enforcement Directorate's Bhubaneswar office, who was detained by the CBI on May 24 in relation to a bribery case involving Rs 20 lakh. Justice Gaurishankar Satapathy granted bail on the condition that Raghuvanshi, an officer from the 2013 Indian Revenue Service (IRS) batch, provides a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two solvent sureties. Additionally, the court has mandated that he surrender his passport and remain within the jurisdiction of the trial court to address concerns regarding potential flight risks raised by the CBI's legal representative.

The court also extended similar bail conditions to the alleged intermediary, Bhakti Binod Behera. While discussing the bail for both individuals, Justice Satapathy noted that the CBI's investigation had made significant progress. However, he pointed out that the petitioners had been in custody for over 50 days, despite the minimum sentence for the charges against them being only three years. Raghuvanshi's attorney, Lalitendu Mishra, emphasized this point.

The court clarified that granting bail is intended to temporarily secure an individual's freedom until a verdict is reached. It reiterated the principle that bail is the norm, while imprisonment is the exception, stemming from the presumption of innocence until proven guilty during the trial.

The court also highlighted that the CBI had not requested any custodial interrogation of the petitioners, who had been cooperative throughout the investigation. Citing a Supreme Court ruling from the 2020 case of Satendra Kumar Antil vs. CBI, the court stated that an accused person could be released on a personal bond if the court is convinced of their community ties and lack of flight risk.