SC junks anticipatory bail of alleged main conspirator of HP Police constable paper leak scam

The Supreme Court has dismissed an anticipatory bail plea filed by Anil Bhaskar, the alleged main conspirator behind the paper leak of the Himachal Pradesh Police Constable Examination held in March this year.

SC junks anticipatory bail of alleged main conspirator of HP Police constable paper leak scam
Source: IANS

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) The Supreme Court has dismissed an anticipatory bail plea filed by Anil Bhaskar, the alleged main conspirator behind the paper leak of the Himachal Pradesh Police Constable Examination held in March this year.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court had earlier dismissed Bhaskar's bail application believing that the prosecution's version of him being the main conspirator and also, he was evading arrest and non-bailable warrants were issued against him.

A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and P.S. Narasimha said: "We are not inclined to entertain the present petition. The Special Leave Petition is dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of accordingly."

Advocate Namit Saxena, appearing for Bhaskar, argued that there was no evidence to link the accused with the crime except testimonies of a father-son duo who were planted for ulterior motives. Saxena, a criminal lawyer, argued that the accused runs Bhaskar Academy for coaching of competitive examinations at Rohtak, Haryana and has been falsely implicated in the case. Bhaskar had moved the apex court against the high court order.

After hearing arguments in the matter, the top court refused to enlarge the accused on anticipatory bail.

Bhaskar's plea said, "That a notice for joining investigation was sent to the petitioner as against the above stated FIR and the petitioner immediately joined the enquiry, however, it has been alleged by the respondent that the petitioner was absconding, and petitioner was untraceable which is false."

The written exam had to be scrapped by Chief Minister Jairam Thakur after it was found that the question paper had been leaked widely across the state at various centres and the exam had to be re-conducted in July this year.

The investigation of the case has been entrusted to the state's Crime Investigation Department (CID), and a five-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Madhu Sudan has been constituted.