ED Dy Director gets bail

Cuttack: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Deputy Director Chintan Raghuvanshi, who was arrested by the CBI in May for bribery, walked out of Jharpada jail in Bhubaneswar on Friday evening after being granted bail by Orissa High Court. The High Court 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 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 an interim bail for 10 days by the High Court to visit his ailing wife and their newborn. He returned to jail as soon as his interim protection was over.