Gauhati High Court Grants Bail to Forest Officer in Bribery Case
Bail Granted to Forest Range Officer
The accused, identified as Shivashish Shandilya after caught taking bribe (Photo: @FightApsc/X)
Guwahati, June 3: The Gauhati High Court has approved bail for Sibasish Sandilya, the Forest Range Officer from North Lakhimpur, who was detained last month in connection with a bribery investigation led by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak issued the bail order, setting the amount at Rs 50,000, which must be secured by a surety of the same value to the satisfaction of the Special Judge's Court in Assam. This relates to ACB Police Station Case No. 07/2026, filed under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The court noted inconsistencies between the time of Sandilya's arrest and the details recorded in the arrest memo.
In reference to the Supreme Court's guidelines from the significant DK Basu vs State of West Bengal (1997) case, the High Court determined that these irregularities represented a breach of the constitutional protections outlined in Article 21.
Additionally, the court acknowledged that the extended detention of the petitioner provided sufficient grounds for granting bail.
During the proceedings, defense attorney BK Mahajan argued that the arrest did not adhere to the required legal safeguards, claiming it violated the rights protected under Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution.
Conversely, Additional Public Prosecutor KK Das asserted that all legal protocols were followed and that the arrest was legitimate.
Sandilya was taken into custody on May 1 after allegedly being caught accepting a bribe during a sting operation by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
While his formal arrest was documented at 8 pm, the defense raised concerns about the delay between his apprehension and the arrest memo's creation, a point that resonated with the court.
Sandilya, who is an officer in the Assam Forest Service and was the top scorer in the 2020 APSC Forest Service examination, reportedly solicited illegal payments from a complainant to facilitate the unrestricted movement of vehicles carrying forest products.
Subsequent searches at locations associated with Sandilya led to the recovery of Rs 5.68 lakh in cash.