Jailed senior IAS officer B P Acharya has been granted bail by the Nampally CBI court on Friday. The court rejected CBI’s plea for extension of Acharya’s remand till March 20. He will be released on producing two sureties of Rs 25,000 each.
Acharya was arrested by the CBI on January 30 in the Emaar properties scandal. Acharya was accused number one though he was the fourth person to be arrested in the case.
Acharya was the managing director of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) when the irregularities leading to the dilution of APIIC’s equity in a joint venture with Emaar properties – the Emaar Hills Township Private Limited (EHTPL) – took place.
The irregularities involved the preferential allotment of villa plots and siphoning of money that should have accrued to EHTPL but instead went to Stylish Homes, an agency created as an agent to sell the prime plots.
Acharya had been questioned earlier on several occasions regarding the case. He is believed to have played a key role in the APIIC deal with Emaar Properties and the subsequent dilution of the government’s stake in the project from 25 to about six per cent thus causing a huge loss of revenue to the state exchequer.
Acharya’s release may pave way for favorable consideration of bail applications of the other accused in Emaar case such as Koneru Prasad and Sunil Reddy.
