The Supreme Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Satish Chandra Verma, the former Advocate General of Chhattisgarh, who is accused in the high-profile Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam case. The case pertains to allegations of corruption involving the supply of substandard rice, grams, salt, and other essential commodities.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order and directed Verma to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation.
Representing Verma, senior advocate Vivek Tankha along with advocate Sumeer Sodhi argued before the apex court that the Chhattisgarh High Court had erroneously concluded that custodial interrogation was necessary. They emphasized that no concrete offence was established based on the accusations made in the FIR.
However, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the Chhattisgarh state government, opposed the pre-arrest bail plea. He argued that the investigation had sufficient evidence implicating Verma, who allegedly assisted key accused persons, Anil Tuteja and Alok Shukla, in obtaining bail in the NAN scam.
Earlier, the Chhattisgarh government assured the Supreme Court that it would not resort to coercive action against Verma in connection with the NAN scam. Despite this assurance, Verma challenged the February 13 ruling of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which had denied him anticipatory bail under charges registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Previously, his anticipatory bail plea was also dismissed by a trial court.
The NAN scam has witnessed arrests of several high-ranking officials and bureaucrats, highlighting widespread corruption in the state's public distribution system.
