2026:JHHC:18762 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI B.A. No. 3398 of 2026 Upendra Nath Mandal, aged about 59 years, Son of Late Ramchandra Mandal, resident of Flat No. 1203 L 1, Tower-II, Uttara Tritiya, Near City Center-2, New Town, Rajarhat, Kolkata, P.O. & P.S.- Rajarhat, District- North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. … … Petitioner Versus Central Bureau of Investigation … … Opposite Party --- CORAM :HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE ANUBHA RAWAT CHOUDHARY --- For the Petitioner : Mr. Jitendra Shankar Singh, Sr. Advocate For the Opp. Party-CBI : Mr. Prashant Pallav, ASGI : Ms. Shreya Shukla, AC to ASGI --- 07/25.06.2026 1. Heard the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the parties. 2. This anticipatory bail application has been filed in connection with R.C. Case no. 08(A)/2017-R, pending in the court of Learned Additional Judicial Commissioner-XVI-CUM-Special Judge, C.B.I., Ranchi, for the alleged offence registered under Sections 120(B) of Indian Penal Code and Section 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and later on the chargesheet has been submitted for the offences under section 120B of the Indian Panel Code and Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that petitioner is in custody since 30.01.2026 and earlier anticipatory bail application of the petitioner was allowed with the condition of deposit of Rs.1 crore, but the petitioner could not deposit the said amount. Thereafter a few cases arising out of the same FIR has been filed by the petitioner in connection with the present matter before this Court and also before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and ultimately the petitioner surrendered before the learned court on 30.01.2026. 4. Learned counsel has submitted that chargesheet has been submitted under section 120B of the Indian Panel Code and section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act. The petitioner was 2026:JHHC:18762 2 Senior Manager at MECON Ranchi and as per the allegation the petitioner entered into criminal conspiracy with two firms namely M/s Zeal India Chemicals and M/s Shiv Machine Tools and in furtherance thereof he accepted illegal gratification amounting Rs.1,65,45,000/- through bank transactions existing in his own name, or in the name of his relatives or friends. It is alleged that the petitioner evaluated the technical bids of the above firms by submitting project co-ordinate on behalf of MECON in the works awarded to the said firms. It is also alleged that tender was finalized in August, 2013. The amount of Rs.49,50,000/- had been paid to the petitioner by the M/S Zeal India Chemicals during the period 12.06.2013 to 15.06.2016 through bank accounts and further amount has been received amounting to Rs.1,15,95,000/- from M/S Shiv Machine Tools, who also participated in the tender which was awarded in favor of M/S Shiv Machine tools. The amount has been received directly /indirectly from the said firms in the account of the petitioner or his relatives during the period from 03.08.2015 to 02.08.2016. 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that there were certain loans which was taken by the petitioner or his wife from one Ajay Jalan, who was the partner of M/s Zeal India Chemicals and in connection with that a complaint case was also filed which ultimately ended in a compromise for a total of Rs.23 lakhs and odd. 6. Learned counsel for the petitioner has further submitted that so far as the transaction with M/S Shiv Machine Tools are concerned, there has been an unregistered agreement of sale with respect to certain property between the wife of the petitioner and one Mintu Naskar and an amount of Rs.80 lakhs was paid through banking transaction to the wife of the petitioner, but Mintu Naskar has not been examined during investigation. The learned counsel has referred to paragraph 24 of the bail application and has submitted that there were certain transaction with Smt. Sova Gayen’s Account and Shri Niranjan Krishna Gayen, but during investigation no connect was found with 2026:JHHC:18762 3 these two persons although, the transaction with them has also been included in the allegation. 7. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of Central Bureau of Investigation has opposed the prayer for bail and has submitted that Rs.70 lakhs was transferred from M/S Shiv Machine Tools, Chennai to Naskar Ceramics against the sale of machinery on different dates and it was the owner of Naskar Ceramics who entered into a sale transaction with the wife of the petitioner and the wife of the petitioner was given Rs.80 lakhs, but ultimately the sale did not materialized; meaning thereby, that the entire amount of Rs.80 lakhs went to the account of the wife of the petitioner without any transfer of property. 8. The learned counsel has also submitted that during investigation it has also come that M/S Zeal India Chemicals, Ranchi was not having requisite experience for supply/work in any Steel Plant in India/any other industries/ Indian National Laboratories, Indian National Test Houses and Indian Railway (which was pre-requisite) and same was ignored while preparing Tender Appraisal Report. Subsequently, during reverse bidding M/S Zeal India Chemicals, Ranchi was declared L-1. It has also come in investigation that the consortium partner of M/S Zeal India Chemicals was having the requisite experience but after getting the contract the consortium partners M/s Batliboi Ltd., Kolkata & M/s Metal Power (I) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai walked out of the contract. M/s Zeal India Chemicals was facilitated by the consortium partners in getting into contract. He has also referred to further materials which has been collected during investigation with respect to M/S Shiv machine tools and has submitted that the investigation reveals that the equipment/material supplied/installed at both the plants by the firms were randomly inspected by the expert of Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFER), Dhanbad and it was revealed that the price paid against the purchase was on exorbitantly higher side. During investigation, no such evidence on records has been shown by the M/s 2026:JHHC:18762 4 Shiv Machine Tools and M/s Zeal India Chemicals that the amount given/taken to the petitioner was loan. 9. The learned counsel has submitted that an amount of Rs. 48.55 lakhs was taken from M/S Zeal India Chemicals and Rs. 94.39 lakhs was taken from M/S Shiv machine tools total Rs. 1,42,94,000/- through banking transaction against the interest of the public at large and gained pecuniary advantage. Learned counsel has submitted that there are serious allegations made against the petitioner and important national projects have been compromise. 10. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and upon going through the aforesaid materials collected during investigation as pointed out by the learned counsel for the opposite party and the huge transactions of money in the account of the petitioner/his family members/ friend remained unexplained even during the course of hearing of this case and certain important projects appeared to have been compromised by the petitioner who is said to be at the key position at the relevant point of time while awarding contract to the aforesaid two firms by violating the prescribed norms , this Court is not inclined to enlarge the petitioner on bail. 11. The instant bail application is hereby rejected. 12. Pursuant to the last order, the materials collected during investigation against the petitioner has produced in sealed cover before the court, the same has been returned to the learned counsel for the CBI. 13. Let a copy of this order be communicated to the court concerned through ‘FAX/E-mail’. (Anubha Rawat Choudhary, J.) 25.06.2026 Rakesh/- Uploaded on:-25.06.2026