CBI court grants bail to 3 arrested in Odisha bribery case
Bhubaneswar (PTI): A special CBI court here granted conditional bail to three persons arrested in connection with a bribery case in Odisha.
The court on Wednesday granted bail to Chanchal Mukherjee, group general manager of the CPSU Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited, and contractors Santosh Moharana and Debadutta Mohapatra.
The bail was granted by the court on the production of a bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties each, said advocate Subham Satpathy, one of the lawyers engaged by the accused persons.
While granting bail, the court put a condition that the accused persons cannot leave Bhubaneswar without its permission. They will also not attempt to tamper with evidence and will cooperate with the investigation.
The CBI had on the evening of December 7 arrested the trio and seized Rs 10 lakh from a car outside a hotel in the city.
According to the CBI, the accused were involved in corrupt and illegal activities related to awarding work orders and clearing bills in exchange for bribes. Later, the central agency had interrogated the trio after taking them on remand in two phases, for eight days.
Following the arrest and during the course of the investigation, the CBI also summoned several people including senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government said it has taken all steps that were required and would take further steps on the basis of the findings of the CBI into alleged involvement of Sethi in the case.
The state government on Tuesday transferred and appointed Sethi as the officer on special duty in the General Administration & Public Grievance Department, after the CBI issued a summons to him in a bribery case.
Sethi, a 1995-batch IAS officer, was the principal secretary of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and ST&SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare departments. He also had additional charge as principal secretary of Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department.
Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo, while replying to reporters' queries, said, "We have taken all steps that were required... He (Sethi) has been summoned by the CBI and he will tell whatever there is to the agency. When the final report (of the investigation) comes out, the state government will take steps based on the findings."
A day-long wait by reporters near the CBI office here turned futile as Sethi did not turn up to record his statement in the alleged bribery case.
The CBI had on December 10 issued a summons to Sethi asking him to depose before the CBI investigating officer on December 11 at its Bhubaneswar office.
Though Sethi did not turn up, the CBI has grilled three drivers working in separate government departments and engaged in the duty of the principal secretary.
Several attempts to get a statement from Sethi also failed to yield any result as he did not respond to calls or messages. The CBI also remained tight-lipped on its next move in the event Sethi did not cooperate with the investigation.
The CBI, in a letter to Sethi, on December 10 said, "It is learnt that you are acquainted with some important and relevant facts and circumstances of the instant CBI case, which are required to be ascertained from you."
Odisha government sources said that on October 19, Sethi had written to Mukherjee regarding assignments of projects for upgrading an ashram school to a high school and a high school to a higher secondary school in Boudh and Nayagarh districts. The two projects are worth Rs 37 crore.
The CBI has not made it clear whether these school upgradation projects have anything to do with the bribery case in which three persons were arrested on December 7.
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NDA, INDIA bloc MPs protest in Parl premises; BJP alleges Rahul pushed its MP
New Delhi (PTI): Ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc MPs took out separate protest marches over the Ambedkar issue on Thursday and came face to face at the Makar Dwar of the Parliament House, leading to jostling in which BJP MP Pratap Sarangi was injured.
He was taken to hospital with an injury on his forehead. BJP MPs alleged that Sarangi was pushed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha later told reporters that while he was trying to enter the Parliament House, BJP members pushed and "threatened" him.
"It is our right to enter Parliament," he said.
Nishikant Dubey of the BJP alleged that Rahul Gandhi pushed an aged parliamentarian leading to his fall and subsequent injury.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have been adjourned following noisy protests by the Opposition seeking an apology from Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks on B R Ambedkar.
Dressed in blue, a colour associated with B R Ambedkar, INDIA bloc MPs, including the Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament premises demanding Amit Shah's resignation for his remarks related to the chief architect of the Constitution.
BJP-led NDA parliamentarians also carried out a march within Parliament premises, raising slogans and carrying placards demanding an apology from the opposition Congress for allegedly insulting Ambedkar.
As the INDIA bloc parliamentarians came face to face with the ruling coalition MPs in front of the Makar Dar of Parliament, the two sides engaged in loud sloganeering in a bid to outdo each other.
The INDIA bloc members first staged a protest at B R Ambedkar's statue in Parliament premises, carrying posters that read 'Main Bhi Ambedkar', 'Jai Bhim' and 'Amit Shah maafi maango'.
They then took out a protest march on the Parliament premises. MPs of the Congress, DMK, RJD, SP, the Left and NCP(SP), among others, participated in the protest. Several opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and K Kanimozhi, were seen wearing blue.
Earlier, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha chaired a meeting of the Congress' Lok Sabha MPs in the main committee room.
The opposition on Wednesday seized on Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on B R Ambedkar to corner the government and demanded his resignation for what they called was an insult to the architect of the Constitution.
The attack from virtually all opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC, DMK, RJD, Left parties and Shiv Sena-UBT, led to the adjournment of both Houses of Parliament and prompted the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to come out in stout defence of Shah.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O'Brien has also submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against Shah in the Rajya Sabha where the home minister had said on Tuesday evening that Congress leaders would have got a place in heaven had they chanted the name of God rather than following the fashion of repeating Ambedkar's name.
The hullabaloo in Parliament also spilled onto the streets of the national capital and places as far as Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. In Delhi, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal led hundreds of supporters to gather outside the BJP office and protest noisily amid slogans "Amit Shah maafi mango, Amit Shah sharm karo".
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief M K Stalin, Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav were among those who have slammed Shah for his remarks.
