The Jharkhand High Court has dismissed a petition filed by senior IAS officer seeking to quash his arrest and remand in connection with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) case alleging a ?38 crore scam in the Jharkhand Excise Department. Choubey, a former Excise Secretary and Managing Director of the Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation Limited (JSBCL), was arrested on 20 May 2025 for alleged irregularities in awarding manpower contracts and failure to enforce fraudulent bank guarantees, which caused massive losses to the state exchequer.
The accused through his counsel argued that his arrest violated Article 22(1) of the Constitution and Section 50 CrPC/Section 47 BNSS, as the grounds of arrest were not communicated to him at the time of detention, but supplied only the next day, beyond 24 hours. He relied on recent Supreme Court rulings in Vihaan Kumar v. State of Haryana, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 269 and Prabir Purkayastha v. State (NCT of Delhi), (2024) 8 SCC 254, which held that furnishing written grounds of arrest is a constitutional safeguard.
The ACB, however, maintained that due process was followed: the grounds were orally explained, videographed, served upon his bodyguard, and later furnished in writing within the permissible time. The agency emphasized that the accused, a senior officer, was already aware of the allegations from prior inquiries and had refused to cooperate.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, after reviewing the arrest memo, remand order, station diary entries, and a video-recorded explanation of arrest grounds submitted by the ACB, held that there was substantial compliance with Article 22(1) and Section 47 BNSS. The Court noted that accused’s counsel had not raised the non-communication of arrest grounds during remand proceedings, and the written grounds were supplied within the “reasonable window” of 24 hours.
Concluding that procedural safeguards had been met and that the accused was fully aware of the reasons for his arrest, the Court dismissed his plea, affirming the legality of his remand.
Cases Relied on
1. Ram Kishor Arora v. Directorate of Enforcement, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1682
2. Vijay Madanlal Choudhary v. Union of India, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 929
3. Pankaj Bansal v. Union of India, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1244
4. Vihaan Kumar v. State of Haryana, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 269
5. Prabir Purkayastha v. State(NCT of Delhi), (2024) 8 SCC 254)
6. Madhu Limaye v. Sub-Divisional Magistrate, (1969) 1 SCC 292)
Appearances:
For the Petitioner : Mr. Ajit Kumar Singh, Advocate (Through VC) Mr. Devesh Ajmani, Advocate
For the State : Mrs. Rishi Bharti, A.C. to A.A.G.-III
For the Vigilance (ACB) : Mr. Abhishek Krishna Gupta, Advocate
