Accused in jail despite bail; SC slams UP govt

A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar and comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar of the Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for not releasing an accused who was granted bail. The bail order was passed a month ago, and the man hasn't been released thus far.

"We deprecate the conduct of the Investigating Officer and also express our serious reservation about the manner in which the Magistrate mechanically proceeded to direct remand of the applicant/petitioner disregarding the order passed by this Court on December 13, 2021," the bench said.

The top court had ordered the release of Vijay Kumar Sharma, accused in the Rs 3,500 crore Noida "bike bot" Ponzi scheme, in December. However, a magisterial court sent him to further custody in violation of the SC's order.

"You will not release the person even after a month. It's a very serious issue," the bench told the UP government counsel.

"We direct the Investigating Officer concerned with crime No. 817 of 2020 to forthwith take steps to release the applicant/petitioner on bail and comply with the order dated 13.12.2021 in connection with the stated offences (all the FIRs in the State of Uttar Pradesh) concerning Bike Bot project passed by this Court without any loss of time," the top said in its order.

"We further direct the concerned officials of the State of Uttar Pradesh to eschew from repeating such misadventure in future, disregarding the unambiguous order passed by this Court on December 13," it added.

The copy of the order must be forwarded to the Secretary, Home Department through email for information and necessary action, the bench said. The bench has also demanded a compliance report by Thursday.

However, the Additional Advocate General for Uttar Pradesh Vinod Diwakar has assured that the man will be released on Wednesday.