New Delhi: A special court Tuesday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Purshottam Totlani, one of the absconding accused in the Syndicate Bank bribery case, saying his custodial interrogation was required to unearth the entire conspiracy and to know about the trail of alleged bribe.
Special CBI judge Swarana Kanta Sharma rejected the plea of Totlani, alleged to be a middleman in the conspiracy, also on the ground that no satisfactory answer was given by his counsel as to why he was yet to join the investigation.
"No satisfactory answer would be given as to why he was concealing himself and was not joining investigation. The allegations are serious in nature," the court said.
"Further in my opinion his custodial interrogation is required to unearth the entire conspiracy and to know the trail of alleged bribe amount of Rs one crore and Rs 25 lakh and part payment of Rs 57 lakh which had been received on July 16, 2014 through accused Purshottam Totlani," it said.
It also observed that Totlani, one of the accused in the case in which Syndicate Bank CMD Sudhir Kumar Jain and Bhushan Steel Ltd Vice-Chairman Neeraj Singal and others have been arrested by CBI, has moved the plea seeking anticipatory bail only after proceedings under section 82 of CrPC (proclamation for person absconding) was initiated against him.
"I, therefore, find no merit in this application and the application stands rejected," the judge said, adding that the accused had kept on changing his location and he was neither found at his residential or business premises.
During the arguments on the bail plea, advocate Pawan Sharma, who appeared for Totlani, argued that his client was a private person and had nothing to do with the alleged payment of bribe and there was no evidence against him.
CBI prosecutor Akshay Gautam countered the submissions of the defence counsel saying that there was enough incriminating evidence to connect Totlani with the case and intercepted conversation shows his involvement in the conspiracy.
The court, after hearing the arguments advanced by both the sides, dismissed the bail plea observing that "intercepted conversations also find mention of the fact that accused Totlani was keeping part of the bribe amount for himself".
It also noted that despite issuance of non-bailable warrant against Totlani twice, he had not joined the probe.
During the day, the court also heard the arguments on the bail plea of co-accused Arun Aggarwal, who according to CBI was the Chief Financial?Officer of Bhushan Steel Ltd.
The court after hearing the arguments on Aggarwal's bail plea, reserved its order for tomorrow.
Aggarwal's counsel told that the court that his client had no role in the case and he was not the Chief Financial Officer of Bhushan Steel Ltd.
The CBI, however, countered the submissions saying that their probe into the case was pending.
Besides Sudhir Kumar Jain, Neeraj Singal, Totlani and Arun Aggarwal, CMD of Prakash Industries Ltd Ved Prakash Agarwal, its Director Vipul Agarwal and various other accused have been arrested by the CBI in connection with the case.
They have been booked under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.
The accused arrested in the case are currently 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.
The agency 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.
