Supreme Court grants bail to Jharkhand ex-minister Anosh Ekka in Rs 57 crore disproportionate assets case

Assets, illegal land acquisition

• The case originated from a First Information Report (FIR) lodged in 2008 by the Vigilance Bureau, which was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), alleging that Ekka amassed assets worth approximately Rs 57.01 crore during his tenure as a minister.
• The prosecution alleged that Ekka utilised construction companies as a front to legalise wealth and bypass the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act to acquire large tracts of tribal land in his wife’s name through fraudulent affidavits and collusion with public officials.
• On August 30, 2025, a trial court sentenced Ekka to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• Ekka challenged this conviction in the Jharkhand High Court, which denied his plea for the suspension of sentence in December 2025.

Court’s findings

• A perusal of the material available on record would indicate that two split chargesheets were filed against the petitioner, the Supreme Court noted.
• Many of the allegations in the present case and the earlier case appear to be overlapping.
• In the previous case, the appellant had remained in custody for more than four years, after which, the Supreme Court suspended the sentences and released him on bail.
• A fervent contention has been raised on behalf of the appellant that two separate prosecutions were impermissible because the allegations in both cases overlap.
• The high court will have to go into this aspect of the case while deciding the pending appeals, the Supreme Court stated.
• However, the fact remains that the appellant has also undergone more than 10 months of custodial incarceration in the present case.