The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday granted bail to a former Assistant Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Himachal Pradesh scholarship bribery case. The court set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s earlier order that had denied him bail.
The order was passed by a bench of Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma. The judges noted that the accused had already been chargesheeted, had spent considerable time in custody, and was expected to cooperate during the trial.
The Supreme Court said keeping him in jail any longer would serve no purpose since the probe was complete. The court overturned the High Court’s decision and directed that the accused, Vishal Deep, be released on conditions to be set by the Trial Court.
The CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch in Chandigarh had registered FIRs on December 22, 2024. The case involves charges under Sections 7A and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Sections 61(2) and 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The allegations relate to a suspected bribery racket linked to probes into private educational institutions that received scholarship funds.
Defence lawyers argued that since the chargesheet had been filed, keeping the accused in custody was no longer justified. They said continued detention would amount to punishment before the start of the trial.
Representing the CBI, Additional Solicitor General Raja Thakre and other lawyers opposed the bail plea. They stressed the seriousness of the accusations and said the case involved a coordinated misuse of authority.
Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had refused bail. It had observed that the allegations of seeking illegal payments to influence investigations and arrests “strike at the heart of institutional integrity.”
The High Court had also pointed to the use of encrypted apps, fake identities, and family-owned vehicles. It said these actions suggested “deliberate and strategically engineered” conduct.
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