Bribery case: Court denies bail to IAS officer's relative

A special court has dismissed the bail application of a relative of suspended principal secretary in the Chhattisgarh government B L Agrawal in connection with a bribery case, citing an ongoing CBI probe.
Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal denied the relief to Anand Agrawal, saying that it was "not a fit stage" to grant him bail.
The CBI has registered a corruption case against the 1988 batch IAS officer, accusing him of trying to "settle" an ongoing probe being conducted by the agency against him.
During the arguments, the CBI opposed Anand's plea, contending that the investigation is still going on and the charge sheet is yet to be filed.

It voiced apprehension that if released on bail, there were chances that the accused could flee from justice or hamper the probe and influence witnesses.
In the bail plea, the counsel appearing for Anand had claimed the probe against him was already complete and that he was not the main accused.

The application said the allegations against him were not serious and that no purpose will be served by keeping him in further custody.
The CBI had claimed that the officer was facing probe in two cases registered in 2010, when he was the health secretary in the Chhattisgarh government. He has been charge-sheeted in one, while probe is going on in the other.

The agency has alleged that the officer had approached Bhagwan Singh, a resident of Noida, who took him to a man named Burhanuddin to get the graft case "settled".
Burhanuddin, who has many aliases, had claimed he was working in the Prime Minister's Office and would help him settle the case in his favour, the CBI FIR has alleged. Burhanuddin aka O P Singh aka O P Sharma had demanded Rs 1.5 crore as illegal gratification for his services, it has said.
At a meeting between the officer, Singh and Burhanuddin on February 11, the beleaguered bureaucrat had agreed to pay the amount to get relief in the cases against him, the CBI has alleged.

The CBI has said that B L Agrawal sent Rs 60 lakh in four instalments to Bhagwan Singh using hawala channels. As the bureaucrat was unable to arrange the remaining cash, Burhanuddin and Singh agreed to accept two kgs of gold as illegal gratification, the FIR has stated.
Anand had played a key role in the offence and a huge amount of cash was recovered from his possession, it has claimed.
The agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused.