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.