Chandigarh, July 15 -- A Chandigarh court has dismissed the third anticipatory bail application of Anubhav Mishra, an outsourced accountant with the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), in connection with the alleged misappropriation of Chandigarh Smart City funds, accepting the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) contention that his custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth a larger conspiracy involving the diversion of public money. Mishra is an accused in a case registered by the CBI under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. In his bail application, Mishra claimed he was merely an outsourced accountant with no decision making authority and had only discharged routine clerical duties. He argued that the decision to transfer over Rs.116 crore from various Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) bank accounts to the MC's Smart City account at IDFC First Bank following the company's closure had been taken by senior officials, including the chief financial officer and additional chief executive officer of CSCL. He maintained that he neither authorised nor benefited from any financial transactions and had been falsely implicated. Opposing the plea, the CBI refuted Mishra's claim that he had no role in relation to the bank account. While acknowledging that the transfer of funds from CSCL accounts following the company's closure was a matter of record, the agency submitted that its investigation had revealed Mishra himself initiated the proposal for opening the account, obtained quotations from various banks through electronic mail correspondence and processed the related note sheets. The CBI further alleged that the investigation had uncovered 11 purported fixed deposit receipts aggregating approximately Rs.116.84 crore, which were subsequently found to be unsupported by any genuine deposits. The agency further alleged that, after approval from the competent authority, the savings bank account was opened without the account opening form bearing the signatures of the authorised signatories. According to the CBI, this was done by Mishra in connivance with officials of IDFC First Bank to facilitate and subsequently cover up fraudulent transactions carried out through the account. The CBI alleged that three fraudulent debit transactions amounting to Rs.8.22 crore and one fraudulent credit transaction of Rs.25.28 crore were executed through the account....