Rs 50 Lakh Bribery: CBI remand for Colonel Himanshu Bali extended

A Delhi court extended CBI remand for Colonel Himanshu Bali by five days in a Rs 50 Lakh bribery case. Fresh custody was also granted to defence suppliers Akshat and Mayank Agarwal, who were recently arrested in connection with the case.

The Rouse Avenue court on Monday extended CBI remand of Colonel Himanshu Bali for five days, in connection with a Rs 50 Lakh bribery case.

Court grants fresh custody

The court granted fresh CBI custody of Mayank Agarwal and Akshat Agarwal. They were produced before the court after an arrest. It is alleged that Bali is involved in the case of bribery of Rs. 50 Lakh from Akshat and Mayank Agarwal, a defence supplier of Kanpur. They allegedly paid the bribe of an amount of Rs. 50 Lakh through the Hawala Channel of Chandni Chowk, Delhi.

Special Judge (CBI) Smita Garg extended the CBI custody of Himanshu Bali. The court granted fresh custody to Akshat Agarwal and Mayank Agarwal for 5 days. "Considering the overall facts and circumstances, and to aid the investigation of the case, five days custody remand of both the accused persons, namely Akshat Agarwal and Mayank Agarwal, is granted to CBI. They will be produced on May 30," Special Judge (CBI) Smita Garg said.

Another accused, Yash Gupta's bail hearing is on May 30. He is in judicial custody.

CBI seeks custody to unearth conspiracy

While seeking custody of the accused persons, the CBI submitted that after collecting the money through hawala channels, Ashutosh Shukla delivered the amount of Rs. 50 lakhs to Naresh Kumar Pal on May 18, and the said amount was recovered from the house of Yash Gupta in Noida by the CBI team.

CBI's public prosecutor submitted that the accused Akshat Agarwal and Mayank Agarwal were absconding and were arrested today after sustained efforts. He submitted that CBI requires the custody of both the said accused persons for five days to unearth the complete modus operandi adopted by them and to identify their links with the other accused persons named in the FIR, as well as other unknown public servants and private persons. It was also submitted that custody is required to ascertain the full extent of undue favours obtained by them in lieu of illegal gratification; to confront them with the recovered bribe amount; the huge cash seized from their residential premises; the digital data, call detail records, messages, emails and other electronic evidence in order to establish the chain of conspiracy, demand, acceptance of illegal gratification; and to trace further instances of delivery of bribe amounts to the public servants.

Advocate SPM Tripathi alongwith Rahul Poonia and Neeladri Bhattacharjee, appeared for the accused. Advocate Tripathi submitted that the residential as well as official premises of both the accused persons have already been searched by the CBI, and the required documents have already been seized. He also submitted that during the said search and seizure, no notice was given to the accused persons by the CBI requiring them to join the investigation. Since no valid ground for the grant of custody of the accused persons to the CBI has been disclosed, the remand application should be dismissed.

After hearing the submissions the court said that the Custody of the accused persons is being sought by the CBI to unearth the complete modus operandi adopted by them, to ascertain their links with the co-accused persons, to ascertain the extent of undue favours obtained by them in lieu of illegal gratification from the co-accused Himanshu Bali and other public servants and to confront them with the digital data, call detail records, messages, emails and other electronic evidence collected. The documents/records seized so far are stated to be quite voluminous.

Background of the case

Colonel Himanshu Bali was posted with the Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) at Eastern Command in Fort William, Kolkata. According to the FIR, registered under Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and multiple sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Colonel Bali was allegedly involved in a criminal conspiracy and bribery.

According to officials, Bali routinely engaged in corrupt practices, which included manipulation in the award of tenders, clearing inflated or pending bills, and deliberately approving substandard material samples. The primary beneficiary of this arrangement has been identified as M/s Eastern Global Limited, a private firm.

This FIR was registered on May 18 against Colonel Himanshu Bali, who is a public servant and employed at the Army Ordinance Corps, Eastern Command, Fort William, Kolkata and four private persons, including the accused Akshat Agarwal and Mayank Agarwal and unknown others on the basis of the source information.

As per the FIR, information was received by CBI that Colonel Himanshu Bali, in connivance with private contractor Akshat Agarwal of M/s. Eastern Global Limited, Kanpur, along with unknown others, has been indulging in corrupt practices involving demand and acceptance of illegal gratification for extending undue and illegitimate favours, including manipulation in the award of tenders, approval of substandard samples and clearance of pending and inflated bills, to Akshat Agarwal and his firms, which are engaged in supplying various items to defence establishments across India. Akshat Agarwal manages the operations of M/s. Eastern Global Limited, Kanpur and he, along with his father, Mayank Agarwal, have been maintaining regular contact with Colonel Himanshu Bali for obtaining undue favours for their firms/companies through illegal means. It was also informed that multiple tenders have been awarded to their firms by Eastern Command, Kolkata, in exchange for substantial bribes paid to Colonel Himanshu Bali and other unknown officers. (ANI)

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