Jaitley CDR case: Court refuses to hear cop's bail plea

A Delhi court on Saturday declined to hear the bail plea of a policeman, one of the four accused arrested for illegally retrieving call details of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley, saying the case does not fall in its jurisdiction.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Prakash refused to entertain constable Arvind Dabas' bail plea relying upon the order of the Delhi high court dividing the national capital into 11 metropolitan areas.

The court decided not to hear the matter after the Delhi Police Special Cell said the proceedings have to be kept in abeyance till the issue of jurisdiction is clarified.

The prosecution told the CMM that none of the alleged offences in the case comes within the jurisdiction of this court.

The jurisdictional issue cropped up as the Delhi high court has divided the national capital into 11 metropolitan zones from March 1 this year and each zone will have a separate CMM.

Earlier, the city was divided into nine revenue districts and there was only one CMM who was dealing with the cases of Special Cell of Delhi Police.

When the judge wanted to know from the investigation office whether the present case was falling in his jurisdiction, the Delhi Police replied in the negative.

The officers of Special Cell said neither the office of the  telecom company, nor its own office, nor that of the ACP whose computer was hacked falls under Central district.

The prosecution, however, submitted that since the FIR in the case was filed before this court, the case should be kept here. The judge was, however, not impressed with the argument.

The court said it has got no power to hear the bail plea as also the entire case since none of the offence alleged was committed within its jurisdiction.

At this, Dabas' counsel Naushad Ahmad Khan contended that “by this line of argument, his application is being kept in abeyance." "I am in abeyance. Since I had filed the bail application before March 1, the same should be transferred by this court to the concerned court of competent jurisdiction," he argued.

The CMM, however, said "I am afraid if such a contention can be sustained in the eyes of law. The reason being that after bifurcation of Delhi into 11 metropolitan areas, this court has got no power to transfer the matter from one district to another as the same is not within the domain of this court. Consequently, said the request is declined."

While disposing of the application, the court added that the accused would be at liberty to approach the appropriate forum in accordance with law.

Khan said he would be moving the high court on this issue as his plea has remain unheard.

Dabas had sought bail saying he has been implicated in the case by the Special Cell due to personal animosities.

Dabas was the first person to be arrested on February 14 in connection with the case. Besides him, three private detectives -- Anurag (alleged to be the main conspirator), Neeraj and Nitish are also under arrest. All four are in judicial custody till March 6.

All the accused have been booked for criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code and section 66 IT Act for hacking the computer system.