Railgate: CBI against bail to Garg, 'abusive words' irks judge

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CBI today opposed in a Delhi court the bail plea of an accused in the Rs 10 crore cash-for-post railway bribery case, saying that he may try to influence witnesses whose identities have become public with the filing of the charge sheet.

'We have filed the charge sheet in the case and names of the prosecution witnesses are mentioned in it. He (accused) knows their identities and can try to influence them after getting the relief,' the CBI told the court while opposing bail plea of Ajay Garg, suspected to be a middleman in the deal.

Senior public prosecutor Akshay Gautam told the court that Garg was one of the main conspirators and was involved in the fixing of the bribe amount to be paid to former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla, a key accused in the case.

Garg's counsel, however, countered the CBI's contentions saying the only evidence against his client is the intercepted telephonic conversations between the accused persons and apart from that, there are no witnesses against him and thus there is no question of him influencing anyone.

He said as the charge sheet has been filed, the CBI's probe into the case is over and Garg should be enlarged on bail.

Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma, however, said that she will go through the intercepted conversations to ascertain Garg's role and then will pass an order on July 8.

'Let me read the conversation(transcripts) and then I will pass the order. I will keep it for orders on Monday (July 8),' the judge said.

During the hearing on the bail plea, the lady judge was irked after going through a portion of the transcripts of the intercepted conversations saying there are a number of 'abusive words' mentioned in the documents which the CBI should have 'omitted' or 'blurred' before giving a copy for her perusal.

'Abuses in the conversations (transcripts) should be blurred or omitted. Why do you (CBI) want to embarrass the court?' the judge said.