New Delhi: A Delhi court Wednesday granted regular bail to five accused in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) sewage treatment plant tender case, holding that their continued custody would serve no useful purpose and that keeping them behind bars before the allegations were proved would amount to “pre-trial punishment”.
“There is thus nothing which still remains to be recovered from the possession of accused,” it said. As for Pankaj Verma, the court noted that he had supplied banking records, tax returns and invoices voluntarily and had already undergone two days of police custody.
Regarding Nagendra Yadav, the court held that the money trail had already been examined by ED and that further custody would serve no meaningful purpose, particularly as 20 days had elapsed since his arrest.
“Cooperation does not mean an accused dancing to the tunes of an investigating officer by offering self-incriminating material on a platter,” the court said while referring to Rai’s right against self-incrimination.
On Rai, the court said the allegation of non-cooperation appeared unreasonable as he was posted in Mizoram and had sought 10 days to join the investigation.
“The sudden arrest of A-2 and others, therefore, is questionable,” the court observed. The court also noted that Rai was a “non technical person from executive” and that the tender notesheet had originated from executive engineers. Special judge Dig Vinay Singh held that the prosecution’s claims regarding an ongoing money-trail investigation, alleged non-cooperation by the accused and the need for further custodial interrogation did not justify their continued detention. The court also noted that Enforcement Directorate (ED) had investigated the alleged proceeds of crime without arresting several of the accused.