Lucknow, Jan 11 (IANS): Tainted IPS officer Manilal Patidar, who surrendered in court after being on the run for over two years in connection with a corruption case lodged against him, has been granted bail by Kanpur Special judge Lokesh Varun.

Passing the order, the court said that the offences for which Patidar was arrested and sent to jail entailed a maximum punishment up to 10 years and hence the investigating agency was required to file a charge sheet in the case within 60 days from the time of his arrest.

But the agency failed to file a charge sheet within the statutory period and hence he is entitled for default bail, said the court in its order.

The complainant, Nitish Pandey, director of P.P. Pandey Infrastructure Pvt Ltd had lodged an FIR against Patidar and other policemen with Kotwali Nagar police station in Mahoba, alleging that the accused persons were extorting money from his truck drivers who were working on the Bundelkhand Expressway.

In a related case, on September 5, 2020, Indrakant Tripathi, a businessman involved in the explosives trade in Mahoba district, in a video addressed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that Patidar, then district police chief (Mahoba Superintendent of Police), threatened to eliminate him after he refused to pay the officer Rs 6 lakh per month as extortion sum.

Two days later, Indrakant was found in his luxury car with a bullet wound in his neck. He succumbed to the injury a week later.

The Uttar Pradesh government suspended Patidar on charges of corruption and extortion. A first information report (FIR) was also lodged against Patidar on charges of attempt to murder (later converted to murder) and criminal conspiracy at the Kabrai police station on the complaint of Indrakant's brother, Ravikant Tripathi.

Patidar eluded the police for over two years and a reward of Rs one lakh was announced for him.

He surrendered at a court in Lucknow in October 2022.