The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest bail to suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Saurabh Tripathi in the Angadia extortion case after the prosecution informed that he has been cooperating with the investigation.
Justice Bharti Dangre confirmed and made absolute the interim protection from arrest granted to him last month. “In the event of arrest of the applicant (Tripathi), the applicant shall be released on bail on furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs 25,000/- with one or two sureties in the like amount,” said the court while directing Tripathi to cooperate with the investigation.
On November 4, the HC granted interim pre-arrest bail to Tripathi till Tuesday. One of the conditions for interim relief was that he must cooperate with the investigation and appear before the Crime Intelligence Unit’s (CIU) office at the Mumbai police headquarters at Crawford market. However, on November 9, in order to avoid media scrutiny, his statement was recorded at an undisclosed location.
The suspended IPS officer had been on the run for over eight months.
The HC was hearing an anticipatory bail plea filed by Tripathi challenging the order of the sessions court refusing to grant him relief. The sessions court, on October 19, had rejected his plea for the second time for protection apprehending arrest. The first such plea was rejected in end-March before the filing of the charge sheet in the case in April.
The IPS officer has claimed that he is falsely implicated in the case as he had issued a circular to police stations in his area to take strict action against hawala transactions by Angadiyas.
Seeking protection from arrest, Tripathi has also stated that the investigation in the case is complete and the charge sheet has been submitted before the trial court. Also, the other accused in the case have been released on bail.
According to the prosecution, Tripathi had demanded Rs 10 lakhs every month from the Angadiya Association to allow them to run their business.
His plea alleged he was implicated in the case by former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey with a prejudiced mind and vendetta for not heading the Special investigation Team against ex-Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh. “The investigating agency is relying upon the statements of angadiya operators and their agents in order to falsely implicate the applicant (Tripathi). It is important to note the said angadiya operators / their agents were already holding grudge against the applicant as the applicant was not letting them conduct their illegal activities smoothly and repeatedly refused their attempts to bribe him,” his plea contended.
