A special Anti-Corruption Bureau court in Ranchi on Tuesday granted bail to suspended IAS officer Vinay Kumar Choubey in a ₹38 crore liquor scam case after the agency failed to file a charge sheet within the statutory period.
Choubey, however, will remain in custody as he faces trial in a separate land-related case in Hazaribagh.
His counsel Devesh Ajmani said the court was informed that 92 days had lapsed since Choubey’s arrest on May 20, but the ACB had not submitted its charge sheet. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that if a charge sheet is not filed within the prescribed time, the accused becomes entitled to default bail,” Ajmani said.
The court granted relief under Section 187(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and imposed conditions, including furnishing two personal bonds of ₹25,000 each, not leaving Jharkhand without permission, and retaining the same mobile number.
Choubey is currently admitted to RIMS Ranchi for medical treatment. In his bail plea, he had also challenged the FIR, calling it legally unsustainable.
The senior bureaucrat, suspended by the Jharkhand government after his arrest, is accused of irregularities in the state’s liquor trade, allegedly causing losses worth ₹38 crore to the exchequer.
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