IAS Manish Agarwal Trial
In a notable development, the Supreme Court has issued a stay order on the trial proceedings involving IAS officer Manish Agarwal. This case centers on allegations of his involvement in his personal assistant’s suicide during his tenure as the collector of Malkangiri, an incident that occurred over three years ago.
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This temporary stay order was prompted by a petition filed by Agarwal, challenging the decision made by the Orissa High Court on June 26 of this year. Initially, Agarwal faced charges under sections 302 (murder), 506 (intimidation), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 204 (destruction of document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). These charges were acknowledged by the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM).
Stay Order
However, the situation changed when Agarwal contested the charges in the high court. In its June 26 order, the high court found a lack of prima facie evidence to support the murder charges against Agarwal. In fact, there was insufficient evidence to even suggest that the death was homicidal in nature. Nevertheless, the high court directed the trial court to proceed against Agarwal for the alleged offense of abetting suicide. Furthermore, it urged the trial to be expedited, with the goal of resolving the case, preferably within eight months. Agarwal subsequently challenged the high court’s ruling in the Supreme Court, which began hearing his petition on Monday. In response, the Supreme Court, represented by Justice MM Sundresh and Justice JB Pardiwala, issued a notice, returnable within six weeks, to the relevant state government authorities.
