By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State CID, through its counsel, has filed an application before the Supreme Court challenging last month’s interim order of the apex court granting anticipatory bail to Chandra Mohan Jha, the Chancellor of the scam-ridden CMJ University.
The Governor and the Law department had urged Additional Solicitor General of India, Siddharth Luthra, to appear before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Meghalaya Government during the hearing of the case.
An official source informed that the application was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday by Government lawyer Ranjan Mukherjee on behalf of the State Government.
The source said that the Supreme Court had pronounced an interim order granting anticipatory bail to Jha after the CID did not file any caveat in the Court.
According to the source, soon after the High Court verdict against Jha which was in favour of the Government, the CID should have filed a caveat, which would have prevented the anticipatory bail order of the Supreme Court. The source added that after the filing of the application, the Supreme Court will now fix the date for hearing.
Though the Supreme Court had granted anticipatory bail to Jha on the condition that he should cooperate with the police, he has not joined in the investigation thus far.
A warrant of arrest had already been issued against Jha and the police had also declared him as an absconder.
Meanwhile, the source informed that the State Government is preparing necessary documents to appear before the Supreme Court on August 22 in response to another order of the apex court regarding Jha.
During the last hearing, the Supreme Court had directed the State Government to produce the appointment letter of Jha as the Chancellor of CMJ University and had set the matter for hearing on August 22.
In the meantime, the CID has continued to seize documents and PhD theses from the CMJ University campus.
On Thursday, CID sleuths seized as many as 10,000 theses from the Jorabat campus of the University.
Earlier on July 26, the CID, in simultaneous raids at the University’s Laitumkhrah and Jorabat campuses, had seized thousands of PhD theses.
The seizure of PhD theses appears to be an attempt of the police to put pressure on Jha to surrender.
When contacted, DGP PJP Hanaman said that the seizure of documents and PhD theses is an ongoing process and the ultimate aim of the police is to get Jha for proper interrogation.
Asked about reports that Jha may be hiding in Nepal, the DGP said that it is very difficult to pinpoint the location as there is no evidence forthcoming regarding his whereabouts.