The CBI had arrested Yadav Singh this February in a 2-year-old Rs 116.39-crore corruption case.
A division bench of the Allahabad High Court granted bail today to the former chief engineer of the Noida Authority, Yadav Singh, who was arrested this February for allegedly awarding projects to seven people at rates higher than those prevalent in the market, thereby causing a loss to the government.
The court said Mr Singh's release would be contingent on fulfilling conditions laid down by the special CBI court.
Mr Singh had sought release from the allegedly illegal custody of the investigation agency as it could not file a charge sheet against him on time.
The CBI, on Wednesday, contended that the delay was caused because the courts were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The court rejected this argument by the CBI and directed that the petitioner be set free on fulfilling the conditions to be laid down by the special court.
A two-judge bench of Justice Pritinkar Divakar and Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav also said the special judge (CBI) erred in rejecting the application filed by the petitioner under Section 167 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
"The detention of the petitioner is held to be illegal and he is entitled to a default bail," the HC said.
The CBI had arrested Mr Singh in a 2-year-old corruption case for allegedly awarding projects worth Rs 116.39 crore to private companies during his tenure, in exchange for regular bribes from them, officials said.
The agency had registered the case on January 17, 2018, on the allegations of criminal conspiracy and misuse of official position as well as accepting bribes.
Mr Singh got bail from the Supreme Court on October last year when he was facing charges in two other cases of corruption.