CBI opposes bail plea of IAS officer B L Agrawal's aide

The CBI today opposed the bail application of an associate of suspended principal secretary in Chhattisgarh government B L Agrawal in connection with a bribery case.
Special Judge Virender Kumar Goyal has posted the bail plea of the officer's relative Anand Agarwal for consideration on March 16.
The CBI has alleged that the 1988-batch IAS officer wanted to "settle" an ongoing CBI probe against him.
In his bail plea, the counsel appearing for Anand claimed that the investigation against him was already complete.
The probe agency, however, opposed the bail plea saying that the investigation was still going on as the charge sheet is yet to be filed.

It said that if released on bail, there were chances that the accused could flee from justice or hamper the ongoing probe and influence the witnesses in the case.

Anand, along with B L Agrawal and two alleged middleman Bhagwan Singh and Syed Burhanuddin, is currently in judicial custody 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 the probe was going on in the other.
The agency has alleged that the officer had approached Bhagwan Singh, a resident of Noida, who took him to Burhanuddin to get a graft case "settled".

Burhanuddin, who had many aliases, had claimed he was working in Prime Minister's Office and would help him settle the case in his favour. Burhanuddin aka O P Singh aka O P Sharma demanded Rs 1.5 crore as illegal gratification for his services, the CBI FIR alleged.
At a meeting among the officer, Singh and Burhanuddin on February 11, the officer had agreed to pay the amount to get relief in the cases against him, it alleged.
The CBI had added that B L Agrawal sent Rs 60 lakh in four installments to Bhagwan Singh using hawala channel. As the bureaucrat was unable to arrange cash for the remaining payment, Burhanuddin and Singh agreed to accept two kgs of gold as illegal gratification, the FIR alleged.

Anand had played a key role in the offence and a huge cash was recovered from his possession, it alleged.
The agency has registered a case of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused.