Supreme Court to Anant Kumar Mishra: Pay Rs 13.5 crore to avoid arrest

Fresh trouble seems to be in store for Anant Kumar Mishra, former UP minister and a close confidante of BSP supremo Mayawati, as the Supreme Court has directed him to deposit Rs 13.5 crore (fifty per cent of the amount which has been referred in the CBI’s chargesheet against him) for avoiding arrest by the investigating agency.

The special CBI court in Ghaziabad on September 5 had issued non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Mishra who did not appear before it despite summons in connection with a case pertaining to the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission scam.

Hearing the plea of the former UP minister, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, Justice Anil R Dave and Justice A M Khanwilkar, said the petitioners, including Anant Kumar Mishra and others, have assured that they were ready and willing to deposit 50 per cent of the amount referred to in the chargesheet.

“The petitioners shall deposit 50 per cent of the amount, which comes to Rs 13.5 crore, within four weeks from Monday with the trial court. Under the circumstances it is directed that till the next returnable date the petitioners, namely Anant Kumar Mishra, Dinesh Chandra Mishra and Bimla Mishra, shall not be arrested in connection with the case,” said the apex court in its recent order.

The CBI had filed a chargesheet in the NRHM case on July 13 this year in which it was alleged that Mr Mishra took bribes from drug suppliers for posting chief medical officers in the districts.

“Investigations have revealed that in his bid to show the bribe amount as white, Mr Mishra acquired two Kolkata-based firms and purchased flats in Delhi’s posh Safdarjung Enclave, Gomti Nagar (Lucknow) and one each in Kanpur and Ghaziabad. Besides, he also bought three commercial properties in Kanpur,” said sources. The chargesheet also mentioned that Mishra appointed his parents, Dinesh Chandra Mishra and Bimla Mishra, as directors in the two Kolkata-based firms which he allegedly acquired from the bribe amount.

Large scale irregularities in the implementation of NRHM in UP came to light after two CMOs, Dr V K Arya and Dr B P Singh, were shot in Lucknow within a period of six months in 2011. Deputy CMO YS Sachan, who was an accused in the murder cases and NRHM irregularities in the Lucknow CMO office, was found dead in Lucknow jail in June, 2011.