Graft: CBI court rejects bail pleas of 2 Chandigarh firm directors

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, March 15

Jagjit Singh, Special Judge, CBI court, has rejected the bail applications of Rajan Gupta and Sonu Arora, who were arrested in the alleged Chittaranjan Locomotive Works bribery case.

The CBI had arrested the accused after registering an FIR on the allegations that their firm EC Blades and Tools Private Limited, Industrial Area, Phase I, Chandigarh, was awarded a contract for the supply of 28 set of Bogey Frames on December 14 last year by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works of Indian Railways in illegal manner.

The accused, Sonu Arora and Rajan Gupta, being directors of the company, used the ‘services’ of Praveen Vyas, a co-accused, for contacting officers of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for the delivery of ‘bribe’ allegedly demanded in lieu of awarding the contract and enhancing the quantity of material to be supplied.

The CBI arrested Ravi Sekhar Sinha, Principal Chief Material Manager of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs1.80 lakh.

The counsel for the accused argued that the applicants had participated in the tender proceedings as per the law. They were allotted the tender and apart from them, two other companies were also allotted the tender at the same rate. The accused had legally participated in all proceedings and were implicated in the case. It was argued that no favouritism was shown to the accused in any manner. Even the increase in the quantity for which the tender was allotted had been done legally.

Narender Singh, Public Prosecutor for the CBI, opposed the bail application. He argued that a huge amount of Rs1.84 crore was recovered from the offices and residence of the accused and the trail of the money was yet to be ascertained, which would take some time. The audio transcriptions of the conversation between the accused clearly showed their role in paying the alleged bribe and getting the tenders allotted. If the accused are released on bail while the investigation was in progress, they are likely to hamper the probe and even pressure the witnesses.

After hearing the arguments, the court ordered, “These transcriptions prima facie show the active role of the accused. The investigation is on. In case the accused are released on bail at this stage, there is every likelihood that they would hamper the investigation and pressure the witnesses. In view of this, the accused do not deserve the concession of bail at this stage.”