Former IAS officer obtains bail

Bhopal, May 5 (UNI) A former IAS officer today obtained bail from a special court in connection with a case related to 'irregularities' in the purchase of lanterns by the Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam (MPUVN) in 1995-96.

Special Judge S K Raghuvanshi had issued a bailable warrant of Rs 10,000 against former IAS officer Mukesh Kakkar and directed him to appear before the court on May 5 for not being present while filing of a supplementary chargesheet by the Lokayukta police on April 26.

The next hearing has been fixed on June 23.

Mr Kakkar has been charged with helping a private company to make profit by making more payment for purchase of solar lanterns for rural areas in the capacity of the MPUVN Managing Director. Mr Kakkar had taken voluntary retirement recently.

The Lokayukta had begun investigation in the case in 1998. The agency had sought permission from the government for filing a chargesheet against Mr Kakkar in 2001 but did not receive it.

In the wake of recent Supreme Court order doing away with the requirement of such permission, the Lokayukta Police had filed the chargesheet.

Earlier, the agency had recently filed a chargesheet against former IAS officer Vinod Semwal without permission from the government.

UNI