CBI moves plea in SC challenging anticipatory bail granted to I-T official in Gujarat

New Delhi [India], January 4 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday moved a plea in the Supreme Court challenging a Gujarat High Court's decision granting anticipatory bail to Additional Commissioner of Income Tax Ahmedabad, Santosh Karnani, who has been accused in a corruption case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who agreed to list the matter.
Mehta apprised the bench that there is tutoring of witnesses and even CBI officials are being approached.
The CBI challenged the High Court order dated December 19, 2022, and in its plea said that the HC erroneously exercised its discretionary jurisdiction in a serious offence of corruption, wherein a senior income tax officer i.e. the respondent who was working as an Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Ahmedabad was caught in a "trap case".
"The electronic evidence gathered by the petitioner clearly implicated the petitioner and established the demand and acceptance of bribe/undue advantage," the CBI said.
The CBI said that the High Court had granted anticipatory bail to the accused, while completely ignoring the gravity and seriousness of the offence [Corruption - Trap Case] and the position that the accused held.
The CBI also mentioned that the High Court also ignored the conduct of the accused who has been absconding despite the issuing of five notices under section 41A, pursuant to which Non Bailable Warrant [NBW] dated November 22, 2022, was issued by the Special Court for CBI Cases Ahmedabad.
The FIR was registered before the State Anti-Corruption Bureau [ACB], Ahmedabad by a complainant on October 4, 2022, and acting on the FIR, local police had laid the trap on the same day and recovered the bribe amount of Rs 30,00,000 on the very same day. After that, in pursuance of the Government notification, the investigation of the case was handed over to the petitioner CBI which re-registered the same FIR on October 12, 2022.
"It is respectfully submitted that while granting bail to the accused the High Court failed to consider the well-settled position of law that once an accused makes himself unavailable for the purpose of joining the investigation and NBWs are issued against him, then such an accused is not entitled for any discretionary relief contemplated under 438 of CrPC," CBI said in the plea.
"Thus in the respectful submission of the petitioner, only by application of the law laid down by this court the anticipatory bail granted to the accused respondent ought to be cancelled," CBI said.
"It is respectfully submitted that in such a serious offence the High Court granted anticipatory bail to the respondent accused without going into the facts, circumstance and the evidence collected against the respondent accused which duly justified the petitioner's requirement custodial interrogation of the respondent to establish the circumstantial chain of evidence, recovery of the mobile phones which used to place demand and voluntarily acceptance of undue advantage of Rs 30,00,000 from the complainant on 3rd & 4th Oct 2022 respectively," the CBI said.