Interim bail of Army captain caught selling diesel extended

Shimla: Interim anticipatoriy bail granted to the Indian army officer Capt. Vikalp Purohit caught allegedly selling diesel from the army’s stocks was extended by a local court.

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

Purohit from 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.