The complainant-turned-accused in the corruption case centred on North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) was granted interim bail after a hearing in court.
Raghuvendra Pratap Tripathi, who had accused Assistant Professor, Dr Dinesh Bhatia, of illegal gratification, became an accused in his own case, which is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Ranjit Kumar Gupta, another accused in the case, was issued a non-bailable warrant after he failed to appear, despite being summoned four times by the court. The CBI was today ordered to produce him at the next hearing.
The case relates to a two-year-old accusation wherein Tripathi had complained to the CBI that Dr Bhatia, then Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, had pressured him into taking part in corruption and threatening to cancel the former’s fellowship and debar him from doing his PhD if he did not cooperate.
The CBI had originally charged Dr Bhatia with allegedly embezzling government funds by using fake bills in the name of an Uttar Pradesh supplier, who would then transfer the proceeds of this illegal activity to Tripathi’s bank account. Tripathi would then hand over the money to Dr Bhatia in cash.
Earlier this month it was revealed that Tripathi had become an accused in the case.
He was granted bail today with the condition that he will not leave the jurisdiction of the court.
At the hearing the judge in the case had reportedly pointed to certain procedural lapses in the manner of investigation by the CBI. The professor has always maintained his innocence and believes that there is a larger plot to implicate him.
