ED bribery case: Court grants bail to three accused

Kochi: Muvattupuzha vigilance court on Thursday granted bail to the three accused who were arrested in the corruption case in which an ED assistant director was made an accused. The case pertains to an alleged demand of bribes in the name of the officer for settling an ED case.

The court granted bail to the accused, Ranjith Warrier, a chartered accountant and two other accused Wilson Varghese and Mukesh Kumar pointing out that there was nothing on record to show that the accused were furnished with the grounds of their arrest before or at the time of their arrest.

The second accused in his application for bail, in ground number three had specifically alleged that the arrest is illegal as police had failed to inform the accused the grounds of his arrest and hence there is a violation of mandatory provision of the Constitution, the order said.

The order stated that in view of the failure of the investigating officer to comply with Article 22 (1) (no person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed of the grounds for such arrest) the accused were entitled to bail. It is nowhere stated in the written reply given by the investigating officer that the accused were informed of the grounds of arrest, the order said.TNN