Anil Deshmukh document leak case: Court grants bail to Ex- CBI's official

Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court has granted bail to Abhishek Tiwari, former sub-inspector with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with an alleged corruption case for leaking information of a separate case against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal in an order passed on February 11 said, in view of detailed discussion, without commenting upon the nature and gravity of the accusations as stated in the charge-sheet filed by the investigating agency, lest it may prejudice the case of the prosecution/defense, later on, it is a fit case, where the accused deserves to be admitted to bail.

The applicant Abhishek Tiwari is admitted to bail on his furnishing personal bonds in the sum of Rs 1,00,000 with one surety of the like amount, said the court.

Further, the court while granted bail also noted that Tiwari is a former CBI official and therefore, has roots in the society. The allegations of the present case do not pertain to economic offenses of huge magnitude, therefore, it cannot perse be said to be falling under the category of grave offenses. Further, the other accused persons having almost similar roles have already been released on bail vide detailed order dated January 31. Therefore, on the grounds of parity, accused Abhishek Tiwari is also entitled to bail.

Last month the same court had granted bail to Maharasthra's Ex-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh lawyer Anand Daga and his social media Manager Gajendra Tumane in the case

CBI arrested its Sub Inspector Abhishek Tiwari last year, for his alleged role in the 'manipulation' of preliminary inquiry against Deshmukh in connection with the extortion case.

The arrests came after the CBI registered an FIR against the sub-inspector, a Nagpur-based Advocate, and unknown persons on certain allegations, including illegal gratification.

In August last year, a report that was allegedly part of a preliminary inquiry conducted by CBI got leaked in media. The report mentions that the agency had concluded that "no cognizable offense has been committed by Anil Deshmukh".

The CBI in its internal inquiry found that Deshmukh's legal team tried to bribe some lower-ranked CBI officials in its preliminary inquiry. Strict action will be taken against the staff who were involved in the case.

CBI in its charge sheet has named then CBI official Abhishek Tiwari, lawyer Anand Dilip Daga and Vaibhav Gajendra Tumane in the charge sheet. Abhishek Tiwari in conspiracy with a lawyer was accused of leaking sensitive documents to subvert investigation of the case against Deshmukh, said CBI.

CBI said that the investigation has revealed that Abhishek Tiwari and Anand Dilip Daga met at Delhi, Mumbai and Pune physically and had been in regular touch through Whatsapp calls/messages and SMS after April 14 2021 and the probe revealed that Deshmukh's lawyer Anand Daga had bought an I-Phone worth Rs 95,000 for CBI official Abhishek Tiwari and given him as illegal gratification in lieu of sharing case sensitive and confidential documents.

The CBI in its internal inquiry found that Deshmukh's legal team tried to bribe some lower-ranked CBI officials in its preliminary inquiry. Strict action will be taken against the staff who were involved in the case. The investigation is underway to find out if more people were involved in the conspiracy to manipulate the documents, CBI said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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