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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Gavai and Hima Kohli today upheld the order of Chattisgarh High Court granting bail to suspended Indian Police Service (IPS) officer GP Singh who was arrested in 2021 in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

Court noted that the application for cancellation of bail filed by the State of Chattisgarh is nothing but a totally unwarranted exercise. Court also noted that the State had also appealed against the order of the High Court granting bail to Singh. 

Appearing for the State of Chattisgarh, Mukul Rohatgi, Sr.Adv, argued that there is evidence of tampering by Singh and that two witnesses have claimed a threat to life. He told the court that having held a high position in the police force, Singh is using his position to tamper with the evidence and threaten the witnesses.

Rohatgi further told the court that Singh is also facing trial in an extortion case and the Top Court had refused to grant him relief on previous pleas. It was further argued that Singh allegedly bribed a prison guard to go to the watchtower and use a cell phone. Rohatgi told the court that Singh has also been dealing with CryptoCurrency. 

Court, on hearing the submissions, noted that Singh is an accused in a case registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act and that he has been granted regular bail by the High Court.

Court further noted that earlier attempts by Singh to seek relief from the Supreme Court were rejected. It was also noted that after his arrest and filing of chargesheet, Singh had filed an application for bail.

Court also took note of Rohatgi's submission that Singh is a high-ranking police officer indulging in tampering of evidence and the High Court has not considered these aspects.

Court held that a court while considering the application for bail must not look into status of the applicant and they have to look at the person seeking bail as a normal citizen. Court held that in a case where most of the evidence is documentary in nature no case of tampering has been made out. Court thus held that the petition without any merit and dismissed the same.

The High Court granted bail to Singh on May 12, 2022. The State had registered an FIR against Singh on June 29, 2021, for allegedly acquiring disproportionate assets after a preliminary enquiry revealed that his income from 1996 to 2021 was Rs. 1,75,00,000  however his expenditure was shown as Rs. 3,55,80,967.

The State alleged that total disproportionate property to the tune of Rs.9,55,09,182/- has been found to be 166.87% excess from the income, which was not satisfactorily explained by Singh. On January 10, 2022 Chhattisgarh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) arrested Singh and he was later sent to judicial custody. 

The State had also pressed Sedition charges against Singh. He had approached the Chattisgarh High Court which refused to grant him relief. When the matter came up before Supreme Court, CJI NV Ramana had said "State of affairs in the country is sad. When a political party is in power, Police Officials side with it and when a new party comes into power, the government initiates action against those officials – This is a new trend, which needs to be stopped."  In March 2022, the CJI had remarked "These officers are good but when the Government changes, they are bound to face the heat."