ED deputy director Raghuvanshi walks out of Bhubaneswar jail on bail

Enforcement Directorate (ED) deputy director Chintan Raghuvanshi, who was arrested by the CBI in May on charges of bribery, walked out of Jharapada jail in Bhubaneswar on Friday evening after being granted bail by Orissa High Court, which also granted bail to Chintan’s associate Bhakti Binod Behera, from whose vehicle the CBI sleuths had recovered the bribe money.

Justice Gourishankar Satapathy allowed their separate bail pleas through a common order, imposing stringent conditions.

Raghuvanshi and Behera were arrested from two locations in Bhubaneswar after the CBI caught them red-handed while accepting a bribe from a city-based mining businessman.

According to the agency, Raghuvanshi had placed a bribe demand of Rs 5 crore, which was reduced to Rs 2 crore and Rs 20 lakh was received as an instalment.

Raghuvanshi had reportedly demanded the amount from the businessman with a promise not to arrest him or attach his property in the 12 cases of financial irregularities pending against him with the ED.

Earlier this month, Raghuvanshi was granted interim bail for 10 days by the HC to visit his ailing wife and their newborn. He returned to jail as soon as his interim protection was over.

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"The IRS officer was released from the jail on Friday evening after relevant documents from the HC and lower court were produced to the jail authorities", his lawyer Lalitendu Mishra said.

Besides Mishra, senior advocates Ashok Kumar Parija and Soura Chandra Mohapatra also represented Raghuvanshi.

Observing that the investigation has made significant progress and that the trial is unlikely to commence soon, the HC stated that bail is the rule and jail is the exception.

"The bail applications of Raghuvanshi and Behera are allowed and both are allowed on furnishing bail bonds of Rs 1 lakh with two solvent sureties for the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court," the HC said.

The other conditions include that the petitioners shall not commit any offence while out on bail, shall remain present in the trial court during hearings, and shall not leave the country without prior permission of the trial court. They are also required to provide the address of their place of stay and surrender their passports before the court.