Liquor scam accused gets bail as ACB fails to file charge sheet
Choubey's advocate Devesh Ajmani said, "The bail was granted on condition that Choubey would submit two sureties of Rs 25,000 each and would not leave the state without the court's permission. The court also ordered that Choubey would not change his mobile phone number without informing the court, and one of the bailers would be a close relative. The bail bonds have been furnished, and the release order in the case has been sent to the jail authorities.
"
However, Choubey will still not walk out of jail, as the ACB had recently made him an accused and taken him into custody in another case related to changing the nature of 2.75 acres of khasmahal land and allocating it to private persons during his tenure as deputy commissioner of Hazaribag.
ACB had arrested Choubey on June 20 after interrogation in the Rs 38-crore liquor scam in the state. As the ACB's investigating officer did not file the charge-sheet within 90 days, Choubey moved the court for default bail under Section 187 of BNSS on Tuesday, which was allowed by the court.
Notably, ACB nabbed 11 accused in the liquor scam case, including Choubey, joint commissioner excise Gajendra Singh, the general manager (finance) of the Jharkhand State Beverage Corporation Limited (JSBCL), Sudhir Kumar Das, and GM (operation-cum-finance) Sudhir Kumar of JSBCL in the case. Ganjendra Kumar had already secured bail in the case earlier.
Leader of the opposition and state BJP president Babulal Marandi alleged that ACB did not file the charge sheet intentionally to enable the IAS officer to get bail and weaken the case.
He added that ACB is investigating the case only to obstruct the enforcement directorate's investigation. "ED probe must be initiated in the liquor scam in Jharkhand," Marandi demanded.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Sonal Shanti claimed that Marandi's allegations were baseless and said that the latter was only spreading rumours against the state govt. Shanti said the govt would continue to play its constructive role and its investigation in the case would continue.
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