A SPECIAL court on Friday rejected the bail plea filed by Anil Ganpatrao Ramod, Additional Divisional Commissioner of Pune division, who was caught red-handed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on June 9 at his office while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 8 lakh to award higher compensation to farmers whose lands are being acquired for highway projects. An IAS officer, Ramod was also the land acquisition arbitrator for Pune, Satara and Solapur districts under the National Highways Act. He is currently lodged in Yerwada prison. He had filed the bail application through his lawyer Sudhir Shah, before special judge A S Waghmare, on June 14. The complaint in this case was filed on May 10 by a lawyer who represents several farmers from Satara and Solapur districts for their land acquisition law related cases and grievances. The farmers had been seeking a higher compensation of their lands which are in the process of being acquired for a highway project. According to the CBI, Ramod allegedly kept the complainant’s cases pending and when the complainant approached him in this regard recently, he demanded a bribe of 10 percent of the hike in compensation sought by the farmers. Ramod allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh from the complainant for the increased compensation of nearly Rs 1.25 crore and finally negotiated the bribe amount at Rs 8 lakh. CBI had earlier told the court that Ramod is a “habitual offender” and during searches, Rs 1.26 lakh in cash was seized from his office cabin, Rs 6.64 crore and important documents were seized during searches at his residence in Baner. Also, CBI had seized “incriminating documents” during a search at the office of M/S Vedalaxmi Developers Designers Private Limited in Baner, which is registered in the name of Ramod's wife. CBI also found Rs 47 lakh in the 17 bank accounts in the names of Ramod and his family members. Defence lawyer sought Ramod's release on bail saying, “Offence is punishable only up to 7 years and not with death or life imprisonment. The alleged bribe amount is already seized, therefore there is no question of recovery or discovery remains at the hands of the accused. Specimen voice is taken and therefore nothing remained to be investigated with the accused. Practically the investigation is completed. Therefore, the question of tampering the evidence available with the office will not arise. Disproportionate asset case is not registered against the accused. The applicant’s wife is working and having independent source of income. As such, amounts seized cannot be said to unaccounted...” CBI's lawyer Abhay Arikar opposed the bail saying that the accused has committed “socio-economic crime” and is a “menace to the society”. Arikar argued that the accused is a highly influential person and has many friends of influential nature who “may hamper the collection of evidence” and “destroy the evidence as well as influence the witness" for not giving a statement against him. Arikar submitted that along with seizures of Rs 1.28 lakh and Rs 6.64 crore from the accused, probe revealed that he has “purchased various immovable properties prima facie totalling to Rs.5.30 crore on his name as well as in the name of his family members.” Arikar argued the investigation is at preliminary stage and there is every possibility that the accused will try to evade the investigation and not co-operate if released on bail. Special judge A S Waghmare rejected Ramod's bail application, saying, “If the accused is released on bail easily, then a wrong message will be spread in the society and faith of public will be lost. Due to the alleged crime, there is not only jolt on the particular section of society , that is farmers, but also on the society at large.” The court also observed that if the accused is granted bail then “tampering of prosecution witnesses and evidence cannot be ruled out.” Meanwhile, Ramod is in judicial custody till June 27.
