Delhi High Court orders release of ex-UP Chief Secretary

The Delhi High Court today ordered the release of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Akhand Pratap Singh who was arrested in connection with a two-year-old disproportionate assets case.

New Delhi, Nov 5 : The Delhi High Court today ordered the release of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Akhand Pratap Singh who was arrested in connection with a two-year-old disproportionate assets case.

Rejecting the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) petition seeking cancellation of Singh's bail, Justice V B Gupta said, "Nothing is on record which shows that he tried to tamper with evidence after the lower court's order. If evidence is tampered with after his release on bail, the petitioner (CBI) will be at liberty to approach the trial court for cancellation of bail."

The trial court had granted Singh bail on October 18 on condition that he would furnish a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and a surety of a similar amount.

Singh was arrested on September 25 by CBI sleuths at Vasant Kunj farmhouse as he was attempting to flee from there.

He was arrested as he was not cooperating in the investigations. There was also proof that he had tampered with evidence pertaining to the case, the CBI claimed.

Singh was once voted the most corrupt officer by the Uttar Pradesh IAS Association, and is charged with amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

According to the corruption case registered against him in 2005, Singh acquired as many as 84 immovable properties in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand worth Rs 200 crore.

He was also accused of forging the signatures of his dead father and a friend to facilitate the transfer of properties and of routing financial transactions through fictitious bank accounts.

Following the registration of the case against Singh, the CBI also conducted raids at 16 places in 2005, and allegedly found huge properties in the name of Singh and his daughter.

ANI