Swan Telecom MD Shahid Balwa gets bail

In a first, the trial court on Tuesday granted bail to 2G scam accused and Swan Telecom managing director Shahid Usman Balwa. The court, which had earlier denied bail to several 2G accused, followed the Supreme Court’s decision in the case last week.

While giving bail to five accused in the spectrum scam case, the apex court had criticised the stance taken by the lower court, terming it a “denial of the whole basis of our system of law.”

“Since as many as 10 accused have been admitted to bail by the Supreme Court, as well as the high court, and the charges against accused Viand Gunk and Shahid Balwa are almost identical, following the principle of parity, I am inclined to admit him (Balwa) to bail,” said O P Sauna, special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge.

Balwa is the eleventh accused to get bail in the case. He has been lodged in the Tiara jail for the past 10 months. The CBI did not oppose Balsa’s bail plea in the court on Tuesday. “As an officer of this court, considering the umbrella charges with individual charges framed against the accused, we are not opposing the bail plea at this juncture in view of the Supreme Court and high court orders,” special public prosecutor U U Lalit said.

The special CBI court is likely to give its order on the bail application of A Raja’s personal secretary, R K Chandolia, after the high court gives its verdict on the bail plea of former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura. The high court has scheduled the hearing of Behura’s bail application for December 1.

Raja, yet to apply for bail, would take a call depending on the verdict for Chandolia and Behura. The charges faced by Behura, Chandolia and Raja are graver than the rest of the accused due to the inclusion of Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust by a public servant. The maximum punishment for the charge is life imprisonment.

The CBI, which did not oppose the bail pleas of the 11 accused who have been granted bail, has opposed Behura’s application in the high court.

The trial court also signed the release orders of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam Member of Parliament Kanimozhi and four other accused, granted bail yesterday by the high court. The four other accused are Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Kusegaon Food and Vegetables directors Rajiv Agarwal and Asif Balwa, and Cineyug Entertainment’s Karim Morani.

Sauna granted relief to Shahid Balwa on the same conditions imposed by the apex court and the high court while granting bail to the other accused. All the accused given bail have been asked to surrender their passports to the trial court and not to leave the country without its permission. They must also attend all the hearings through the trial.