Diesel selling army officer’s interim bail extended

SHIMLA - A court in this Himachal Pradesh capital Monday extended interim anticipatory bail granted to an Indian Army officer who was caught by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) allegedly selling diesel from the army’s stocks.

District and Sessions Judge B.R. Chandel extended the interim pre-arrest bail of Captain Vikalp Purohit till Sep 6, but he asked the army officer to cooperate with the investigating agency.

Purohit of the General Reserve Engineering Force, a wing of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), was posted at Koksar in Lahaul and Spiti district and was caught Aug 20 by CBI sleuths who posed as decoy customers.

The diesel was meant for the BRO’s Project Deepak, which maintains a 222-km stretch between Manali and Sarchu, part of the 475-km Manali-Leh National Highway-21.

The CBI summoned Purohit last week to its office here and grilled him. It also summoned all the records of diesel supplies and consumption by the BRO for verification.

It couldn’t arrest him as the accused got the anticipatory bail Aug 23.

CBI Superintendent of Police R. Upasak said the army officer was trapped by two decoy customers, who presented themselves as contractors of the state public works department.

They entered into negotiations with him and he was ready to sell 800 litres of diesel to them.

The CBI team was on lookout for army officials who were allegedly selling diesel meant for the forces in the open market.

The CBI has already registered a case against Purohit.