Bribery case: Order on IAS officer's bail plea tomorrow

A special court will tomorrow pronounce its order on the bail plea of suspended principal secretary in the Chhattisgarh government B L Agrawal who has been arrested in a bribery case.
Special judge Virender Kumar Goyal reserved the order for tomorrow after hearing arguments from the counsel appearing for Agrawal and the CBI.
The agency has registered a corruption case against the 1988-batch IAS officer accusing him of trying to "settle" an ongoing probe being conducted by it against him.
The court, meanwhile, extended till April 13 the judicial custody of Agrawal and other accused -- the officer's relative Anand Agrawal, alleged middleman Bhagwan Singh and Syed Burhanuddin, who claimed to be an official of the Prime Minister's Office.

During the hearing, the officer's counsel sought the relief claiming that Agrawal's wife was suffering from several serious ailments and his presence was required at home.
The lawyer also claimed that the officer himself was suffering from various ailments.

The CBI, however, opposed the bail plea saying that a family member's medical condition cannot be considered for bail of the accused.
"It cannot happen that I will remain involved in corrupt activities and continue taking the ground of my family member's ailment," the CBI counsel said while citing various cases pending against the officer.
The agency also said that the probe is at its crucial stage and if released on bail, the officer may temper with the evidence being an influential person.

"A person who is trying to influence the PMO and even trying to bend the course of investigation in his favour shows how influential he is," it said.
The court had on March 21 dismissed the bail plea of Anand Agrawal in the case.
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 chargesheeted in one, while probe is going on in the other.
The agency has alleged that the officer had approached Bhagwan Singh, a Noida resident, who took him to Burhanuddin to get the graft case "settled".

The agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused.