Chandigarh: The Central Bureau of Investigation has initiated proceedings to declare absconding Vigilance Bureau chief’s reader OP Rana a proclaimed offender in the Rs 13 lakh bribery case.
The CBI court in Chandigarh has meanwhile issued fresh non-bailable warrants against Rana till June 6. Rana had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking anticipatory bail after his plea was rejected by the CBI court. The High Court is scheduled to hear the matter on Wednesday.
Since Rana’s anticipatory bail plea is pending before the High Court, the CBI court refrained from immediately declaring him a proclaimed offender and instead issued fresh non-bailable warrants. The court observed that the accused’s conduct prima facie indicated an attempt to evade arrest.
The CBI had moved an application under Section 84 of the BNSS seeking to declare Rana a proclaimed offender. During the hearing, the agency cited Supreme Court and High Court judgments to argue that proceedings to declare an accused absconding can continue even if a plea is pending before the High Court, provided there is no stay order.
The case pertains to a May 11 trap operation in which the CBI caught Malout residents Vikas Goyal and Raghav Goyal’s driver Ankit Wadhwa allegedly accepting Rs 13 lakh in cash and a Samsung mobile phone as bribe from a tax official in Malout. Investigators alleged that the father-son duo acted as middlemen for the Vigilance Bureau and that OP Rana was also involved in the racket.
While the CBI managed to arrest Vikas Goyal and Raghav Goyal after a chase, Rana allegedly escaped and has remained absconding since then. The agency has submitted three sealed envelopes before the court containing material related to the searches conducted in the case.
The Chandigarh CBI court also accepted the agency’s plea to extend the judicial custody of Vikas Goyal, Raghav Goyal and Ankit Wadhwa by another 14 days. The next hearing in the matter has been scheduled for June 6.
