A Tamil Nadu special court recently dismissed the statutory bail application lodged by Ankit Tiwari, an Enforcement Directorate officer who was arrested in December 2023 by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) following allegations of bribery.
Special Judge for Prevention of Corruption Case, Dindigul, J Mohana ML rejected Ankit Tiwari’s application seeking statutory bail. J Mohana ML accepted the DVAC’s argument that Ankit Tiwari was not eligible for statutory bail despite the fact that the investigation agency had been unable to file a chargesheet in the case so far.
The Special Judge said that such delay in completing its investigation and filing of chargesheet occurred because the Supreme Court had temporarily stayed the investigation in the case on January 25 when the DVAC was 55 days into its probe.
The court in its order said that the statutory bail would be applicable only if the sixty days period from the date of arrest had gone without any reasonable cause. The court added that the reason and argument on the side of the respondent Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Dindigul seemed valid to this special. Hence, the petition by the petitioner is dismissed.
Enforcement Directorate Officer Ankit Tiwari was arrested by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) after allegedly having been caught accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh. Reportedly, this is the second instance of bail being denied to Ankit Tiwari. Earlier, a Tamil Nadu court as well as the Madras High Court had dismissed his bail plea earlier in December 2023.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate had approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the investigation into the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The Supreme Court had also issued notice on that plea on January 25 and also stayed the probe by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC).