JMM case: Bail for Rao, main accused

The Delhi high court on Friday granted regular bail to the four Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders accused in the Rs 35 million members of Parliament payoffs case and anticipatory bail to co-accused former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and former minister Satish Sharma.

Ending the nearly four-month-long incarceration of JMM MP Shibhu Soren, and former MPs Suraj Mandal, Simon Marandi and Shailendra Mahato, Justice S K Mahajan ordered that they be released from the high-security central Tihar Jail on their furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the like amount.

Granting anticipatory bail to Rao and Sharma, also on conditions of furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the like amount each, Justice Mahajan said the anticipatory bail would ensure till the trial court of Special CBI Judge Ajit Bharihoke decided their regular bail applications and for a week thereafter. The two had already secured interim anticipatory bail from the high court.

Imposing additional bail conditions the four JMM leaders, charged with receiving bribes running into millions of rupees to vote in favour of the Rao-led government during a vote of no-confidence in July 1993, Justice Mahajan directed that they surrender their passports to the Central Bureau of Investigation within one week and not go abroad without the trial court's permission.

The court further directed that they would not operate any of their bank accounts, in which money allegedly paid to them as illegal gratification was deposited, without the permission of the court, and also join investigations as and when required by the investigating agency, the CBI.

Ending the judicial custody of the four JMM leaders, arrested by the CBI on September 5, Justice Mahajan observed that while one of them continued to be an MP, the others were former members of Parliament. All were tribal leaders espousing the cause of people living in Jharkhand area of Bihar and there was no reason why they should flee from justice. Moreover, they had been thoroughly interrogated and were in custody for the past four months.

''Except that the names of some unknown persons are still to be investigated by the investigating agency, I do not see any reason as to why the petitioners should languish in jail, more so when the other co-accused had not been arrested by the CBI immediately on the registration of the first information report,'' he added.

He further said the CBI had been given enough time to interrogate them and it could be permitted to question them even if they were released from jail.

Accepting Rao's plea for anticipatory bail, Justice Mahajan observed that the maximum sentence provided by the Prevention of Corruption Act, under which Rao and others had been charged, was five years while the minimum was six months.

Citing a Supreme Court judgement of 1996 in the Anukul Chandra Pradhan vs Union of India, Justice Mahajan noted that while delaying with cases involving public men, no occasion should arise for an impression that the publicity attached to these matters has tended to dilute the emphasis of the essentials of a fair trial and the basic principles of jurisprudence including the presumption of innocence of the accused unless found guilty at the end of the trial.

He also noted that the chargesheet had already been filed against Rao and there was no material that he had tried to tamper with evidence or influence witnesses while he was on interim bail in this case. Moreover, he was a former prime minister who is always under the protection of the Special Protection group and his movements were known to everybody. His family members are residing in India and he is also suffering from serious medical problems.

The court observed that the matter is coming up again in the trial court on January 8. ''In my view, therefore, in case the petitioner is granted anticipatory bail till his application (for regular bail) is decided by the court of the special judge or till a few days thereafter, I feel, he will not flee from justice or tamper with evidence,'' Justice Mahajan added.

UNI