CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to Sanjiv Mittal, Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University who is facing abetment of suicide charge over the death of a contractual staff Dinabandhu Mishra. Dinabandhu had set himself on fire on April 20.
Burla police had registered the case against Sanjiv under section 306 of IPC on the basis of the complaint lodged by son of the deceased. The HC passed the order on his anticipatory bail application. The single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi said considering the facts, circumstances and the materials so far collected by the prosecuting agency, it appears that if the petitioner is enlarged on anticipatory bail at this stage, it will not affect the investigation adversely.
“The petitioner is a noted educationalist and he is a Vice-Chancellor of a reputed university throughout this period. No case has been made out warranting the petitioner’s custodial interrogation and no reasonable apprehension lies that if the petitioner is released on bail, he is likely to abscond. Therefore, this court allows his prayer for anticipatory bail”, Justice Panigrahi said.
While granting pre-arrest bail, Justice Panigrahi said in case the petitioner is arrested in connection with the case, he shall be released on bail forthwith on his executing bond of `25,000 with two sureties each of the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.The deceased was working as a technical assistant on contractual basis since 1993 at the Sambalpur University.
Burla police had registered cases under section 306 of IPC against Assistant Director (Sports & Physical Education) Abinash Kar and warden Biswajit Satpathy. Justice Panigrahi also allowed anticipatory bail applications of both Kar and Satpathy on same conditions.