Syndicate Bank bribery case: Court dismisses bail pleas of two

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday dismissed the bail pleas of Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Prakash Industries Ltd Ved Prakash Agarwal and its Director Vipul Agarwal, who along with others were arrested in the Syndicate Bank bribery case.

Special CBI judge Swarana Kanta Sharma rejected the bail applications of both the accused who are currently in judicial custody along with other co-accused, including Syndicate Bank CMD Sudhir Kumar Jain.

During the arguments on the bail applications, advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for both the accused, asserted that CBI's case against both his clients was merely on the basis of recorded conversations allegedly intercepted by the agency.

Regarding Vipul Agarwal, the lawyer contended that his client had resigned from the post of Director of Prakash Industries Ltd on October 31 last year and was now nowhere associated with the company.

Countering the contentions of the defence counsel, CBI's prosecutor Akshay Gautam said that probe into the case was still underway and if released on bail at this stage, the accused may try to tamper with the evidence.

The accused arrested in the case are in judicial custody till August 29. On August 2, CBI had arrested six accused in connection with the case.

CBI had claimed to have recovered Rs 21 lakh in cash from Jain's residence besides gold worth Rs 1.68 crore and documents of fixed deposits of up to Rs 63 lakh.

CBI has filed two cases against Jain, accusing him of receiving a bribe of Rs 50 lakh through conduits and abusing his official position to enhance the credit limits of some companies in violation of laid-down procedures.

Bhushan Steel Ltd Vice-Chairman Neeraj Singal, co-accused in the case, was arrested by CBI on August 7, hours after the court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him and an alleged middleman, Purushotam Totlani in the case.

In two FIRs, CBI has named Singal, Ved Prakash Agarwal, Vipul Agarwal, Pawan Bansal, chartered accountant, Vineet and Puneet Godha (relatives of Jain), Vijay Pahuja, Totlani and Pankaj Bansal.

They have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.