A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court demanding release of Chudamani Sharma, the suspended director general of the Inland Revenue Department, who is in custody of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority on corruption charges.

SC Spokesman Mahendra Nath Upadhyay said Sharma’s wife Kalpana Upreti Sharma filed the petition on Tuesday demanding her husband’s release arguing that he should not be subjected to interrogation from the CIAA for exercising the authority granted by the Tax Settlement Commission.

The anti-graft body had sought a bail of Rs3 billion, the highest amount ever demanded, for his release. He failed to post the sum. According to the Corruption Prevention Act-2002, the CIAA can hold a corruption-accused for up to six months in custody. Sharma faces interrogation for his “questionable” way of exempting the taxes through the TSC formed in February 2015. He was one of the three members of the commission.

The petitioner argues that the bail amount is too high. The CIAA has said it was decided based on irregularities worth over Rs9 billion as seen in some 120 files related to tax exemption by the TSC.