Court denies bail to journalist in graft case

A Delhi court today denied bail to journalist Upendra Rai, arrested by the CBI for his alleged involvement in dubious financial transactions.

Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann denied the relief to Rai noting that the investigation was at its initial stage.

The court noted the CBI's submission that the time period was very less to complete investigation as the magnitude of the crime was very large. The CBI also told the court that if he was granted bail, Rai could tamper with the evidence.

In his application, Rai had claimed that no purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody. He had claimed he was not required for further custodial interrogation since the CBI's plea for this was rejected by the court on May 9.

Rai, arrested by the CBI on May 3, is currently in judicial custody.

The Delhi-based scribe was arrested for allegedly indulging in dubious financial transactions and getting an airport access pass made by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) by furnishing false information.

The Supreme Court had on May 4 refused to interfere with his arrest. In his application seeking protection from arrest, Rai had claimed he was framed in the case because of his writings against an ED officer who was part of the team probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.

Prasun Roy, chief security officer of Air One Aviation Pvt Ltd, was also booked by the CBI, which had carried out searches at eight locations in Lucknow, Noida, Delhi and Mumbai.

In its FIR, the agency has alleged that going by the value of the transactions of over Rs one lakh during 2017, Rai's accounts received Rs 79 crore while Rs 78.51 crore was debited from it during the same period.