NEW DELHI: The owners of two of India’s largest listed real estate companies and three officials of Anil Ambani’s ADAG will have to wait till Friday to know if they will be granted bail in the 2G-spectrum scam, after the Delhi High Court reserved its decision on their bail pleas on Tuesday.
The five corporate executives, Vinod Goenka, a director of Swan Telecom, Sanjay Chandra, managing director, Unitech Wireless, and three officials of Reliance Anil Dhirubhair Ambani Group, Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, had approached the Delhi High Court last week after the special court handling the 2G case sent them to judicial custody for 14 days, beginning April 20.
The CBI, which had named these five executives in its chargesheet filed earlier this month, opposed their bail pleas in the Delhi High Court. Justice Ajit Bharihoke asked public prosecutor UU Lalit to submit documents and evidence collected by the CBI and also heard senior lawyer Soli Sorabjee’s arguments for Gautam Doshi in a packed courtroom.
Sorabjee, a former solicitor general and attorney general of India, said Doshi was not a shareholder in Swan Telecom and the CBI should give reasons for why bail should be denied to someone who had no previous criminal record. Doshi, who has been accused of cheating, forgery and abetment to crime, is the group managing director at Reliance ADAG.
“On mere apprehensions of a probe agency, how can any court deny bail. If a court does so, we need a justification,” Sorabjee said. Earlier KTS Tulsi, who had appeared for Sanjay Chandra in the Delhi High Court last week, had used a similar argument, and said the Unitech MD, was neither a shareholder nor a director in their telecom arm called Unitech Wireless on or before issuance of telecom licences.
Lalit cited the Satyam fraud case where the Supreme Court cancelled bail given by high court due to financial implications and gravity of the matter of commercial fraud. He urged that bail in the 2G case should be granted or refused based on merits of the case and gravity of the matter.
On April 22, when the high court first heard the case, lawyers representing the accused had pointed out that the same court, in another case, had earlier ruled that if an accused was not arrested during investigation, the latter was entitled to bail after a chargesheet was filed. But Lalit on Tuesday opposed this argument and said that if the accused had not been arrested earlier does not make it a case for not taking them into custody later.
Balwa, Agarwal Custody Extended
CBI Special Court on Tuesday extended judicial custody of Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal till May 6. The duo was named in the CBI supplementary chargesheet filed on Monday along with Kanimozhi, Sharad Kumar and Karim Morani. However, Special CBI Judge OP Saini reserved the order for Shahid Balwa.
The five corporate executives, Vinod Goenka, a director of Swan Telecom, Sanjay Chandra, managing director, Unitech Wireless, and three officials of Reliance Anil Dhirubhair Ambani Group, Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, had approached the Delhi High Court last week after the special court handling the 2G case sent them to judicial custody for 14 days, beginning April 20.
The CBI, which had named these five executives in its chargesheet filed earlier this month, opposed their bail pleas in the Delhi High Court. Justice Ajit Bharihoke asked public prosecutor UU Lalit to submit documents and evidence collected by the CBI and also heard senior lawyer Soli Sorabjee’s arguments for Gautam Doshi in a packed courtroom.
Sorabjee, a former solicitor general and attorney general of India, said Doshi was not a shareholder in Swan Telecom and the CBI should give reasons for why bail should be denied to someone who had no previous criminal record. Doshi, who has been accused of cheating, forgery and abetment to crime, is the group managing director at Reliance ADAG.
“On mere apprehensions of a probe agency, how can any court deny bail. If a court does so, we need a justification,” Sorabjee said. Earlier KTS Tulsi, who had appeared for Sanjay Chandra in the Delhi High Court last week, had used a similar argument, and said the Unitech MD, was neither a shareholder nor a director in their telecom arm called Unitech Wireless on or before issuance of telecom licences.
Lalit cited the Satyam fraud case where the Supreme Court cancelled bail given by high court due to financial implications and gravity of the matter of commercial fraud. He urged that bail in the 2G case should be granted or refused based on merits of the case and gravity of the matter.
On April 22, when the high court first heard the case, lawyers representing the accused had pointed out that the same court, in another case, had earlier ruled that if an accused was not arrested during investigation, the latter was entitled to bail after a chargesheet was filed. But Lalit on Tuesday opposed this argument and said that if the accused had not been arrested earlier does not make it a case for not taking them into custody later.
Balwa, Agarwal Custody Extended
CBI Special Court on Tuesday extended judicial custody of Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal till May 6. The duo was named in the CBI supplementary chargesheet filed on Monday along with Kanimozhi, Sharad Kumar and Karim Morani. However, Special CBI Judge OP Saini reserved the order for Shahid Balwa.
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