NHAI Scam: Special Court refuses to send accused on further CBI remand

Ahmedabad: The Special CBI court of Ahmedabad on Thursday refused to send an accused arrested in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) scam case to further CBI remand and decided to send the accused to judicial custody stating that no grounds for further remand exist.

A Special CBI Judge on July 17, refused to send accused TP Singh of M/s GHV India to further CBI custody as sought by the investigation agency and said no grounds for further remand exists and decided to send him to Judicial Custody.

The CBI had filed an application and sought further remand of 5 days of T P Singh, Advocate Ayush Jindal appeared for him opposing the CBI remand application and argued that on the prevailing material that CBI has, the court had already granted 2 days of PC earlier and since no new material is there for further remand the accused must be sent to judicial custody.

Advocate Jindal addressed the Court at length regarding the illegality of the arrest itself, in view of the non-compliance of Section 41A CrP.C as well as the decision of the Supreme Court in the matter of Arnesh Kumar vs the State of Bihar.

Jindal went on to highlight the requirement of the CBI to adhere to the diktats of the CBI manual, stating that the premier investigation agency needs to uphold the rules and regulations of 'its bible, the very document that governs the various powers and procedures of the CBI'.

The CBI Anti Corruption Bureau, recently arrested 6 individuals including the Regional Officer of NHAI and the various project heads of Companies that had been awarded projects by NHAI earlier last year.

According to the CBI Anti-Corruption Bureau, it was acting on a tip-off as received and caught the Regional Officer NHAI in the Company of various private persons and recovered over Rs. 10 Lakh.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last Friday arrested Chief General Manager (CGM) in the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and others in Gandhinagar while accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a representative of a private company dealing in infrastructure projects.

The accused named in the FIR have been identified as Digvijay Mishra, Chief General Manager (Tech) and Regional Officer-NHAI in Gandhinagar; TP Singh of M/s. GHV (India) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai; Jahid Vijapura, Managing Director of M/s. GHV (India) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai; Shivpal Singh Chaudhari, MD of M/s. New India Contractors and Developers Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad; RB Singh, General Manager of M/s. MKC Infrastructure Ltd., Gandhinagar; Ankur Malhotra of M/s. New India Contractors and Developers Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad.

"Digvijay Mishra and TP Singh have been arrested during the transaction of money and sum of Rs 10 lakh was seized from their possession. Later, during search at the house of Mishra, CBI has recovered Rs 20. Lakh cash," said a senior CBI official.

A case was registered against Chief General Manager(Tech) and Regional Officer-NHAI, Gandhinagar; Manager Director of private company based at Mumbai & an official of said private company; MD of Ahmedabad based private company and an official of said private company; General Manager of another private company based at Gandhinagar and other unknown public servants and private persons. (ANI)