Supreme Court grants interim bail to ED officer Ankit Tiwari

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ankit Tiwari, an officer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), who was arrested in December last year by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) following allegations of bribery..A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan as a bail condition also directed Tiwari not to leave the State without official permission, and surrender his passport if asked to do so..The Court granted the interim relief to Tiwari while hearing a batch of petitions related to DVAC's bribery case against him. Besides Tiwari's petitions challenging dismissal of his applications for regular bail and statutory bail by Madras High Court, the petition filed by the ED alleging non-cooperation by the Tamil Nadu government in sharing FIRs concerning probes into money laundering cases, was also listed before the Court.The ED has also prayed that the probe into the bribery case against Ankit Tiwari (currently being probed by the DVAC) be handed over to the CBI..Tiwari was arrested last year by the DVAC after allegedly having been caught accepting a bribe of ₹20 lakh.The top court had earlier stayed the DVAC probe against Tiwari..The Supreme Court had earlier suggested that a judicial body could monitor cases in which investigation is sought to be conducted by both State agencies as well as Central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).Earlier this year, it had also hinted that guidelines could be evolved to tackle apprehensions of bias by State investigation agencies or "vindictiveness" by central investigating agencies when dealing with such matters..Today, the Court was told that ED had not filed the rejoinder in their case against TN government. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju responded that it would be submitted.Following the submission, the Court granted two weeks time for the purpose. The Court also asked the DVAC to file a counter affidavit within two weeks to Tiwari's plea for regular bail..Ankit Tiwari was represented by advocate Shivam Singh today before the apex court..[Read order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.