HC seeks CBI's reply on ex-union minister Thungon's bail plea

The Delhi High Court today sought a reply from CBI on a bail plea moved by former union minister P K Thungon convicted and jailed for four and half years in a graft case.
A bench of Justice Indermeet Kaur issued notice to CBI on the bail plea of Thungon who claimed that he needs to attend to his wife suffering from various ailments.
The court also sought verification of medical records submitted by Thungon regarding his wife and posted the matter for further hearing on February 25.
68-year-old Thungon, also former chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, was held guilty by the trial court on July 21 in a case pertaining to misappropriation of Rs 2 crore released by the Centre for public welfare of Nagaland.

The case was lodged by CBI in 1998 against Thungon and others and he was convicted and sentenced for offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of IPC and under relevant provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Besides Thungon, the trial court had also awarded three- and half years of jail term to Tali A O and C Sangit while the fourth convict Mahesh Maheshwari was given two and half years jail term in the case.

Maheshwari was held guilty for offences under sections 120-B read with 419, 468 and 471 of IPC.
The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Thungon, saying that due to misappropriation of money by politicians and bureaucrats, "poor people of Nagaland were cheated".
CBI, in its charge sheet, had said that pursuance to the proposal of Nagaland government, the then Planning Commission had sanctioned an amount of Rs 2 crore in 1994 for renovation and upgrade of minor irrigation projects for the state and the money was to be released in two installments of Rs 1 crore each.