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2G case: A Raja gets bail

NEW DELHI: Over 15 months after his arrest, former Telecom Minister A. Raja was today granted bail by a Delhi court in the 2G Spectrum case.

"The bail application is allowed," Special CBI Judge O. P. Saini said.

The court granted bail to the DMK MP on a personal bond of Rs 20 lakh and two sureties of the like amount.

The court while granting bail imposed conditions on Raja that he will not visit Tamil Nadu without its prior permission and will not go to the office of the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The court, in its 14-page bail order, also said that Raja would not try to influence any witnesses while on bail. Raja was arrested on February 2 last year.

The court, while granting bail to 49-year-old Raja, said all the co-accused in the case have already been granted bail and his further detention would not serve any purpose.

"In the end considering the progress of the trial, period of the custody of the accused and the fact that all other accused have been released on bail, I am of the opinion that further detention of the accused would not serve any purpose and for these reasons, I am inclined to admit the applicant/ accused (Raja) to bail," the special judge said.

On the apprehension of the CBI that if granted bail Raja may influence witnesses and tamper with evidence, the court said it addressed them by imposing conditions and restrictions on the accused.

The court noted that entire evidence in the case was documentary and was in its custody.

"Moreover, this apprehension of the prosecution (that Raja may influence the witnesses and tamper with the evidence) can be addressed by imposing conditions and restrictions on the accused.

"Furthermore, almost entire evidence in the case is documentary in nature and the same is in the custody of the court," the judge said.

The court also directed Raja to surrender his passport as a prerequisite for bail.

Raja, who has remained in judicial custody for over 15 months since his arrest, had sought bail on the ground of parity as other 13 co-accused have already secured bail either from the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court or the trial court.

Raja has alleged the case against him is "false and fabricated" and "not sustainable in law." The CBI had vehemently opposed Raja's bail, saying he could not be released on the ground of parity as the charges levelled against him were of serious nature.

The agency has alleged that DMK-run Kalaignar TV had received Rs 200 crore as bribe from Shahid Balwa's DB Group through a circuitous route as a quid pro quo for favours shown by Raja in the Spectrum allocation.

The agency has also claimed that during the probe, it had come to light that Raja and others had received a bribe of another Rs 200 crore from certain companies under its scanner in connection with the Spectrum scam. — PTI

IPL fixing: BCCI asks for tapes

New Delhi: BCCI president N Srinivasan has said that the Board won’t tolerate any kind of corruption in the Indian cricket, while vowing to take strong action if it finds any wrongdoing as claimed in a sting operation by a channel.

“We will not tolerate any wrongdoing. At the same time we have to be certain what has happened. I do not have access to the footage,” Srinivasan told a TV channel.

"We will ensure that the integrity of the game is protected. BCCI believes in the integrity of the game. We will take the strictest possible action. We will have to see the tapes and the moment we see them, whoever is the player, we will take very very strict action," he said.

Gurgaon BMW road rage case: Car owner's son gets bail

GURGAON: Suraj Sehrawat, 21, the accused in the BMW hit-and-run case in which two persons, including a pregnant woman, were killed here, was on Tuesday granted bail by a district court on submitting a bond of Rs 50,000.

Sehrawat surrendered in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Jasbir Singh on Tuesday morning. His lawyer was also with him.

A defence lawyer said his client was booked under Section 304 (A) — causing death by negligence — which is a bailable offence.

The police counsel requested the court in writing to provide the accused for a blood sample, Test Identification Parade (TIP) and for recovery of the driving licence. The court will rule on this Wednesday.

During the hearing, Sehrawat was surrounded by bouncers. He was wearing a silver-coloured shirt with broad blue-black lines, faded blue jeans and red-coloured bathroom slippers. Unshaven, he looked tired. The bouncers also tried to manhandle the media persons present outside the court room.

A speeding BMW car bearing number plate HR 26 AV 0007 had rammed into a Tata Indigo car May 5 here killing two people, including a pregnant woman, Kshama Chopra, and critically injuring four others — Rajender Chopra (68), Meena Chopra (65), Daksh Jaiswal (20) and Sanjay Sethi (35).

The accident took place near the IFFCO Chowk Metro station on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road.

Sehrawat had been absconding since then. Earlier, a man named Rajesh Kumar, a relative of the accused, had claimed that he was driving the BMW at the time of accident but police were not satisfied with this.

Daksh Jaiswal, a Delhi University student, had said the BMW was driven by an unknown person but whom he could recognize.

According to police, Devender Singh Sehrawat, the father of the accused and now a resident of Sector 14, hails from Haryana's Fatehabad district. A few years ago he was just a cab-owner but now is a well-known property dealer and has a huge number of buses and cabs involved in transporting staffers of call centres and MNCs. — IANS