The CBI on Tuesday strongly opposed bail plea of the five corporate honchos jailed in the 2G scam alleging that the offence they committed was of a grave nature.
The court deferred the decision to Friday, which meant that they will have to remain in jail for at least another three days.
“Non-arrest of the accused, their co-operation during the probe and absence of past criminal records, could be a relevant criteria but other factors such as their complicity and gravity of the offence cannot be overlooked,” SC-appointed prosecutor UU Lalit submitted before justice Ajit Bharihoke.
He said the CBI court had while denying them bail pointed out that from a perusal of facts of the case and allegations in the chargesheet, a case of the highest magnitude and gravity was made out and there is enough incriminating material on record against the accused.
Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty MD Vinod Goenka and three top executives of Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG group — Gautam Doshi, S Pipara and Hari Nair were arrested and sent to judicial custody after the special court rejected their bail application on April 20.
Defending themselves before the Delhi high court, their lawyers charged the CBI court of violating a 2006 Delhi HC direction as per which “bail was a matter of right to an an accused who has never been arrested during investigation”. They had also contended that gravity of an offence is measured by the punishment it attracted which in this case was a maximum of seven years.
{{/usCountry}}Defending themselves before the Delhi high court, their lawyers charged the CBI court of violating a 2006 Delhi HC direction as per which “bail was a matter of right to an an accused who has never been arrested during investigation”. They had also contended that gravity of an offence is measured by the punishment it attracted which in this case was a maximum of seven years.
{{/usCountry}}“Are we to say that any punishment less than life sentence is not a serious offence? A loss of R31, 000 crore was caused to the exchequer. Millions of shareholders have been duped and the corporate credibility of the nation has been badly hit,” said Lalit.