Sc Clears Arrest Of Chandraswami

The Supreme Court yesterday gave a free hand to the CBI to arrest godman Chandraswami, his aides K N Aggarwal (Mamaji) and Vikram Singh, cancelling the anticipatory bail granted by Justice Mohammed Shamim of the Delhi High Court.

The apex court passed the order as the trio failed to produce before the CBI original documents for receipt of Rs 2.28 crore from suspect foreign donors for his Dharmayatan trust.

The order, passed by a division bench consisting of Justice J S Verma and Justice B N Kirpal, would mean that the CBI is free to arrest them without the three-day notice period specified in the anticipatory bail order of December 18 last year.

The judges made it clear that if the three, who have come out of jail recently, are arrested, the question of bail for them would be considered on merits by the appropriate court.

According to the CBI, represented by Attorney General Ashok Desai, huge amounts were received in 1992 and 1995 which had not been accounted for by the three accused. Investigations had shown that these contributions had been allegedly received from persons like arms dealer Adnan Khasoggi, who operate from tax havens.

The High Court had directed that the CBI should give three days notice to the accused if it intended to arrest them.

This protection was on the condition that they would appear before the officer concerned of the CBI or any other government agency whenever required.

The Attorney General submitted before the apex court that when the CBI summoned the godman on January 18 to appear before it, he moved the court of Justice Shamim and got an order that he should not be arrested on the assurance from his counsel R K Anand that the documents demanded would be furnished in three weeks. But this promise was never kept. Justice Shamim later gave more time for the accused to comply with his order, and then transferred the case from his court to another.