NAN corruption case: SC grants pre-arrest bail to former Chhattisgarh AG

The Supreme Court on Friday granted pre-arrest bail to former Chhattisgarh advocate general Satish Chandra Verma in relation to the Nagrik Apurti Nigam scam case.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta asked Verma to cooperate in the investigation.

During the hearing, senior advocate Vivek Tankha and advocate Sumeer Sodhi, appearing for Verma, submitted that the Chhattisgarh High Court has wrongly concluded that there was a need for custodial interrogation.

They submitted that no offence whatsoever was made out on the basis of allegations.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the state government, opposed the anticipatory bail saying there was enough material against the law officer.

The Chhattisgarh government had earlier told the apex court that it would not take any coercive steps against Verma in relation to the Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam case and issued notice to the state government.

The allegations against Verma in the FIR are that he helped NAN scam accused Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla in getting bail in the case.

The purported corruption case relates to the supply of low quality rice, grams, salt, etc., and several high profile persons, including bureaucrats, were arrested in the case.

Verma has challenged the February 13 order of the high court denying him anticipatory bail in the case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC. The trial court previously dismissed his anticipatory bail plea.