Tainted IAS officer's parents get bail in assets case

A special court has granted bail to tainted IAS officer Arvind Joshi's parents, who were accused along with him and his wife in a case of disproportionate assets.
The bail was granted by the court of special judge V K Dwivedi to Arvind's father and retired IPS officer, H M Joshi and mother Nirmala yesterday on furnishing a bond of Rs two lakh each.
The counsel for suspended IAS couple, Arvind and his wife Tinoo Joshi also filed a separate bail application on behalf of them but it was not taken up for hearing as they were not present in the court.

The court will now take up the matter on March 14.
Lokayukta Police had filed a charge sheet in the case on March 1 against the Joshi couple and others, including their relatives and friends.
The couple was supposed to be present in the court when the charge sheet was filed but they did not appear on the ground that they had not received any notice for the same.

The court then fixed March 11 as the next date of hearing but their counsel moved an application stating that they were unable to appear because of some reason, following which the court fixed March 14 as the next date for taking up their bail plea.

A disproportionate assets case was filed against the IAS couple following a raid by Income Tax department in February 2010 during which over Rs 3.03 crore unaccounted cash was seized from their residence.
The charge sheet filed by the Lokayukta against the couple stated that they have amassed movable and immovable assets worth Rs 43.87 crore, which is highly disproportionate to their total income in 31-year-long career.