Rao, Satish, Moily Get Bail In Jmm Case

The Delhi High Court yesterday granted bail to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, former Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Satish Sharma, former Karnataka Chief Minister Veerappa Moily, four Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leaders and three others in the Rs 3.5-crore MPs bribery case.

Granting anticipatory bail to Rao and Sharma, Justice Mahajan said that in the event of arrest, the accused would be enlarged on bail after furnishing a bail bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety in the like amount.

Keeping in view Justice Mahajans order, Justice Mohammed Shamim granted anticipatory bail to Moily, two of his Cabinet colleagues H M Revanna and Ramalinga Reddy, and businessman G Thimmegowda, on similar conditions.

Justice Mahajan also granted regular bail to four JMM leaders, Shibu Soren, a sitting MP, Shailendra Mahato, Suraj Mandal and Simon Marandi and ordered their release on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety each in the like amount.

However, he directed the four JMM leaders to surrender their passports to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), join investigations as and when required, not to leave the country without the courts permission and not to operate without courts permission the bank accounts in which the alleged bribery money was deposited.

Justice Mahajan also observed that the anticipatory bail granted to Rao and Sharma would be valid till their regular bail pleas were decided by the trial court and seven days thereafter. The bail pleas would come up for hearing before special judge Ajit Bharihoke on January 8. But, Justice Mahajan, dealing with the question of constitutional immunity to MPs, said, I am prima facie of the opinion that a member of Parliament is a public servant within the meaning of Section 2(c)(viii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Merely because there is no sanctioning authority for the prosecution of an MP, it cannot be said that the provision of the act will not be applicable to him (MP), the judge said agreeing with the view earlier taken by the Orissa High Court on this aspect.

The court observed that prima facie the constitutional immunity granted to the MPs for their act inside Parliament cannot be extended to those cases where they have committed an offence outside Parliament or have entered into a criminal conspiracy to do something in Parliament.

On his part, Justice Shamim, keeping in view Justice Mahajans granted bail to Moily and Thimmegowda on similar conditions.

The CBI, in the second chargesheet filed on December 9, had accused Moily, his then Cabinet colleagues Revanna

Reddy and Thimmegowda, V Rajeshwar Rao and two liquor barons of Karnataka of a role in the bribery scandal.