Ex-Chhattisgarh IAS requests SC to allow him to be quizzed in all cases together

Former Chhattisgarh IAS officer Anil Tuteja, who is facing investigations in several major scams, requested the Supreme Court on Monday to direct the investigating agencies to interrogate him continuously in all the cases and then allow him bail till the completion of trials.

Tutega, who topped the state civil service exam in 1998 and was promoted to the IAS in 2003 and became a powerful bureaucrat in the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress govt in Chhattisgarh, was recently arrested by the Economic Offence Wing investigating various scams. He now seems to be getting frustrated over the denial of bail due to one case or the other.

It became evident when his counsel, Shoeb Alam, told the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that agencies have shown a peculiar tendency of arresting him in a different case whenever Tuteja is about to get bail in one.

According to him, Tuteja has been in jail since April 2024 and has volunteered for continuous custodial interrogation by the Economic Offences Wing of Chhattisgarh Police and ED. Once that is done, he should not be arrested in one case or another merely to keep him behind bars, Alam argued.

The bench remarked that Tuteja had wielded significant power and the cases against him related to alleged siphoning of huge sums of public money.

“You have been granted bail by courts in cases where discretion was exercised. But we cannot pass a peremptory order granting bail in all present and future cases,” the bench averred.

The cases against Tuteja as listed by the apex court involve the Rs 175 crore rice milling scam, the Rs 600 crore District Mineral Foundation (DMF) scam, the Rs 540 crore coal levy scam, the Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam, the Nagrik Apurti Nigam (PDS) scam, and the Mahadev Betting App scam.

The bench asked him to seek bail after arrest or anticipatory bail if he apprehends arrest.

The bench even hailed the Chhattisgarh HC’s decision to refuse Tuteja’s omnibus bail plea. The top court bench, however, opined that if he files a bail plea within a week, the HC should decide it on priority within two to four weeks.