Delhi excise policy scam case: Court grants bail to five accused

A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to five accused in a corruption case related to the Delhi government's now-scrapped new excise policy.

Special Judge M K Nagpal, who on Monday sent former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to CBI custody, granted relief to five accused noticing that the agency took a conscious decision not to arrest them.

The five accused, including two former excise department officials Kuldeep Singh and Narender Singh and businessman Sameer Mahendru, were earlier granted interim bail by the court after they appeared before the judge in pursuance to the summons issued to them.

The court also granted bail to Gautam Mootha and Arun Pillai.

"During the period of investigation, sufficient time and opportunity were available to the IO (investigating officer) of the case to arrest all the applicants or any of them. But the IO had taken a conscious decision not to arrest any of the applicants and had charge-sheeted them before this court without arrest," the judge said.

He noted that no allegations were made against the applicants that they did not appear in response to the summons or notices issued to them by the investigating officer for joining the probe or that they did not cooperate.

The judge put several conditions on the accused, including that they shall not leave the country without prior permission of the court and that they shall not tamper or attempt to tamper with evidence of this case in any manner.

"They shall not influence or attempt to influence the witnesses of this case in any manner. They shall join the pending investigation of the case if required by the IO/HIO at any point of time, and they shall also cooperate with the IO/HIO in this regard," the judge said.

Two accused, Vijay Nair and Abhishek Boinpally, were earlier granted bail by the court.

The accused had appeared before the court in pursuance to summon issued by the court after taking cognizance of the CBI charge sheet filed against the seven accused. Some of the accused in the case are currently in judicial custody in a related case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate.