Supreme Court Issues Notice On Bail Plea Of Anand Giri, Accused In Mahant Narendra Giri Suicide Case

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on the bail plea of Anand Giri, an accused in the case related to the alleged suicide of Mahant Narendra Giri.

A bench comprising Justices A. S. Bopanna and Bela M. Trivedi sought response from the State of Uttar Pradesh and Central Bureau of Investigation on the petition filed by Anand Giri challenging the Allahabad High Court's order which denied him bail.

Mahant Narendra Giri, head of Shri Math "Baghambari Gaddi", Prayagraj was found dead inside the Math on September 20, 2021. An alleged suicide note was recovered where Mahant Narendra Giri accused Anand Giri along with Adhay Prasad Tiwari and Sandeep Tiwari as responsible for his death. FIR was registered where it was noted that Mahant Narendra Giri was disturbed for the last few months due to the acts of Anand Giri. It was alleged that Narendra Giri himself used to say that Anand Giri was troubling and harassing him a lot. Anand Giri surrendered himself in Saharanpur and his statements were recorded following which the other two accused were also arrested.

The investigation was later transferred to the CBI by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension (Dept. of personnel and Training). The CBI re-registered the case and and conducted investigation. During the investigation statements of 120 persons were recorded. Various audios and videos were also recovered.

Anand Giri applied for bail before the trial court which was rejected by the Special Judge (EC Act), Allahabad. An appeal was made before the High Court of Allahabad which was also rejected on the ground that there was a proximate link between the unfortunate incident of the suicide of Mahant Narendra Giri and acts of the accused persons.

"Considering the facts, materials on record and other attending circumstances of the case, which are relevant for the purpose of deciding this bail application, submissions advanced on behalf of parties, complicity of the applicant, gravity of the offence and severity of the punishment as well as possibility of tampering the evidences and winning over the witnesses as noted above, I do not find any good ground to grant bail to the applicant at this stage", the High Court observed in the order.

ANAND GIRI ALIAS ASHOK KUMAR CHOTIYA vs STATE OF UP AND ANR. - SLP (Crl.) No. 11691/2022

Click Here To Read/Download Order