CBI fails to file charghesheet, Darbari gets bail

The Delhi high court on Friday granted bail to former CWG Organising Committee official TS Darbari , arrested for his alleged role in the Queen’s Baton relay scam, as the CBI failed to file the chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days. HT reports.

The Delhi high court on Friday granted bail to former CWG Organising Committee official TS Darbari , arrested for his alleged role in the Queen’s Baton relay scam, as the CBI failed to file the chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days.

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He is a close aide of CWG OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi. During the hearing, Darbari’s counsel contended that his client is eligible to be released on bail as the CBI has failed to complete its probe within the prescribed time limit and his client cannot be kept behind bars indefinitely.

According to the CrPC, an undertrial becomes entitled for the grant of bail if the investigating agency fails to file a chargesheet within two months of his arrest. Earlier, a lower court had rejected the duo’s bail pleas, saying that corruption in awarding the contracts in the CWG has tarnished the image of the country. Darbari and Jayachandran were arrested by the CBI on November 15 and 21 last year, respectively.

The lower court also rejected Darbari’s contention that a high-powered committee had taken the decision regarding the contract. The court had said that they had even “forged” emails to justify their decision to award the contract to the London-based firm.

Letters Rogatory to UK: CBI

The CBI, which could not chargesheet Darbari within the stipulated period, is yet to send its Letters Rogat-ory to the United Kingdom authorities to gather crucial evidence against him.

"A Letters Rogatory is being issued to UK shortly for this purpose," the CBI spokesperson said, adding, "The evidence against Darbari in the alleged irregularities is to be "collected from UK since the entire transaction took place there." The lack of key evidence was the reason why the chargesheet had not been filed yet, said the spokesperson.