In a dramatic development, dismissed Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Tinoo Joshi surrendered before a court here on Tuesday after evading arrest for over four months.
Arriving on a wheel chair at the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge D P Mishra, Ms. Joshi applied for regular bail citing medical reasons. But, Mr. Mishra rejected the plea and sent her to jail on judicial custody.
In the plea, Ms. Joshi’s counsel Pratul Shandilya sought bail on the ground that she was scheduled to undergo hysterectomy (surgical removal of uterus) at the Government Medical College in Udaipur and said that if she did not get proper medical attention, her ailment could develop into uterus cancer. He stated that the condition of his client was "serious" and that she suffers from a heart ailment as well.
Opposing the bail plea, counsel for Lokayukta police, [the prosecuting agency], L.S. Kadam, said that if the court gave her relief, it would send a wrong signal to the public at large about corruption.
After going through the arguments for and against the bail plea, the Judge held that Ms. Joshi be sent to judicial custody and set the next date of hearing as January 17.
Ms. Joshi, along with her husband Arvind Joshi, is wanted in connection with a disproportionate assets case. The two are accused of amassing wealth worth over Rs. 350 crore, well above their known source of income.
Mr. Arvind Joshi is also a dismissed MP cadre IAS officer.
The couple were dismissed from service in July last year and soon after, a special court here had issued an arrest warrant against them.
Special Judge Dinesh Kumar Mishra had issued the arrest warrants as the couple failed to appear in the court even for a single hearing.
The Lokayukta police has submitted its charge sheet against the couple and 18 others in the case on Feburary 22 last year under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
They were terminated from service nearly four years after Income Tax officials raided their house in 74 Bungalows area here and found cash and incriminating documents.
The couple had reportedly bought agricultural and non-agricultural land at several places including near Kanha and Bandhavgarh national parks, Raisen, Balaghat, Sehore and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, according to an appraisal report by the Income Tax department.
It has also alleged that the couple had purchased 25 flats of which 18 are in Guwahati, six in Bhopal and one in New Delhi and that papers of seven plots at Patel Nagar in central Delhi have been recovered from their possession.
The IT department has further claimed that searches had resulted in recovery of jewellery worth Rs. 67 lakh and foreign currency worth Rs. 7 lakh.
