Supreme Court grants bail to Kalpnath Rai

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to former Union minister Kalpnath Rai while admitting his appeal against a judgment of a designated Terrorist and Destructive Activities (Prevention) Act court in New Delhi, sentencing him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 million for harbouring terrorists.

The bail was granted by a division bench, consisting of Justice M K Mukherjee and Justice S Saghir Ahmad, after hearing arguments from both sides. The court directed Rai to furnish a bail bond of Rs 100,000 with two sureties. Rai was also directed not to leave the country without the court's prior permission.

The court issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation on his statutory appeal and said the appeal would be heard six weeks after the summer vacation. The judges also suspended temporarily the attachment of the properties of the East-West Trade Link, a travel agency, as well as sentence of a fine of Rs 5 million imposed by the designated court for harbouring terrorists.

The owners of the travel agency were also tried along with Rai and others by the TADA court.