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
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