NH-74: HC gives interim relief from arrest to IAS officer

Nainital: In a major relief for suspended IAS officer Pankaj Pandey, one of the accused in multi-crore National Highway-74 land acquisition scam, Uttarakhand high court on Thursday granted him interim relief from arrest. On January 3, district court of Nainital had rejected Pandey’s interim bail application.
The high court also directed Pandey to cooperate in the ongoing investigation and asked the state government to file its response within three weeks.
Senior advocate of Supreme Court Siddharth Luthra appeared for Pandey and was assisted by Vipul Sharma and Ruchira Gupta.
The next hearing is scheduled on February 12.
In September 2018, senior IAS officers Chandresh Yadav and Pankaj Pandey were suspended by the state government for their alleged role in the Rs 300 crore NH-74 land acquisition scam.