BCI Bribe-Arrest Delhi High Court stumps BCI Vice Chairman Dhanapals bail plea

The Delhi High Court has refused an anticipatory bail plea of R. Dhanapal Raj, Vice Chairman of the Bar Council of India who was arrested on charges of corruption and bribery in December, 2010..The Delhi High Court has refused an anticipatory bail plea of R. Dhanapal Raj, Vice Chairman of the Bar Council of India who was arrested on charges of corruption and bribery in December, 2010..Justice Hima Kohli dismissed the bail plea and said, “Having regard to the status of the petitioner, there can be no doubt about the influence he wields in society in general and the legal fraternity in particular. The relief sought by the petitioner for grant of anticipatory bail might result in hampering investigation and influencing the material witnesses, whose statements were being recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI)”, reports the Hindu..Media reports also state the CBI opposing the bail application. The CBI stated that the investigating agency had recovered Rs. 74 lakh from the petitioner (Dhanapal) and there was sufficient evidence, that an initial demand for payment of a bribe was made by the petitioner to the college through Manish Tyagi for providing a favourable inspection report. This was fortified by the statement of a witness, recorded under Section 164 of the Cr. PC, where the demand made by both the petitioner and co-accused Rana at the time of inspection had been mentioned..Vice Chairman Dhanapal Raj’s lawyer submitted that the gravamen of the accusation were actually the negotiations over the gratification amount between Manish Tyagi and Rajendra Singh Rana, and did not involve the petitioner (Dhanapal). The sum of Rs. 74 lakh recovered, did not belong to him (Dhanapal) alone and only Rs. 29 lakh was recovered from his (Dhanapal’s) premises, while the remaining amount was recovered from his brother-in-law (A. Chandrasekhar)..The CBI arrested Rajendra Singh Rana and Manish Tyagi in December 2010 on charges of bribery and corruption for granting false certification to a law college in Ghaziabad. The CBI at seven places conducted a simultaneous raid soon after the arrests and cash was found at Vice Chairman Dhanapal’s residence amounting to lakhs of rupees. Dhanapal was granted interim anticipatory bail for four weeks by the Madras High Court which expired on January 21, 2011.