The Supreme Court has set aside anticipatory bail granted to former IAS officers Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla in the Chhattisgarh NAN scam, allowing ED custody for four weeks. Both officers have been given one week to surrender and must cooperate with the probe.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has cancelled the anticipatory bail that was earlier given to two former IAS officers, Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla, in connection with the alleged Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam in Chhattisgarh. The case is related to corruption and money laundering linked to the state’s public distribution system (PDS).
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take custody of the two IAS officers for a period of four weeks from the date the order is received.
After that, both officers will be released
“if not required in any other case, subject to the terms and conditions that may be imposed by the trial court”.
The court was clear in its observations against the relief earlier granted to the officers.
The bench said,
“We have no hesitation in setting aside the anticipatory bail granted to respondent – Alok Shukla and are inclined to grant custody of respondent – Alok Shukla to the appellant – ED for a period of four weeks, from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, subject to the condition that he shall cooperate with the appellant – ED so as to facilitate it to complete the investigation and file the complaint. Respondent – Alok Shukla is granted one week’s time to surrender,”
Earlier, on September 16, the court had passed a similar direction with regard to Tuteja.
The Supreme Court said,
“We are also inclined to grant custody of respondent – Anil Tuteja to the appellant – ED for a period of four weeks, from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, subject to the condition that he shall cooperate with the appellant – ED so as to facilitate it to complete the investigation and file the complaint. Respondent – Anil Tuteja is granted one week’s time to surrender,”
The Enforcement Directorate has also made serious claims in court. It alleged that “some constitutional functionaries of Chhattisgarh” were in touch with “an HC judge” to secure judicial relief for certain accused persons in the money laundering case linked to the NAN scam.
Because of this, the ED not only sought cancellation of anticipatory bail but also asked for the transfer of the PMLA case outside Chhattisgarh.
The NAN scam dates back to 2015 when the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) raided the offices of Nagrik Apurti Nigam, the state agency that runs the public distribution system.
During these raids, unaccounted cash of Rs 3.64 crore was seized. Along with this, samples of rice and salt taken from stocks were tested, and many were found to be of poor quality, even unfit for human consumption.
In 2019, the Enforcement Directorate registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of the FIR and charge sheet earlier filed by the Chhattisgarh Police’s EOW and ACB.
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The scam is considered one of the major corruption scandals in the state’s PDS system. At the time, Anil Tuteja was serving as chairperson of NAN and Alok Shukla was the managing director.
This Supreme Court order marks an important turn in the investigation, as it ensures both officers will now be in ED custody for a fixed time to facilitate the completion of the probe.
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