Key accused in car import scam gets bail;no relief for biz man

Madras High Court today granted bail to Alex C Joseph, the main accused in the car import scam involving alleged customs duty evasion of Rs 48.40 crore.
Allowing his bail application, Justice C S Karnan directed Joseph, arrested in February last, to execute a personal bond for Rs.50,000 and two other sureties for the like sum by two government servants to the satisfaction of VIII Special Judge for CBI cases.
Joseph is the second accused in the case related to import of high-end cars in the names of NRIs that were sold to politicians and businessmen allegedly by evading customs duty to the tune of Rs 48.40 crore

The high court had earlier rejected the bail petitions of Joseph twice.
Meanwhile, special judge for CBI cases J.Krishnamoorthy dismissed the bail petition of Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra University and co-accused V R Venkatachalam, arrested here on Monday.
He also rejected a CBI application seeking custody of Venkatachalam, accused of purchasing seven cars from Joseph.

In the high court, Justice Karnan also directed Joseph to appear before the CBI daily at 10 AM and 5 PM until further orders. He further ordered him to surrender his passport to the concerned court.
In the case, Muruganandam, said to be a senior Officer of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Chennai had been arrayed as the first accused.

During the hearing of the bail plea today, counsel for Alex submitted that his client was in jail for more than 90 days and CBI had already filed chargesheets were also filed in those cases.
Special Government Pleader Chandrasekharan for CBI vehemently opposed the bail petition, saying Joseph was absconding for more than two years and with a great difficulty the CBI had arrested him.
In the CBI court, Judge Krishnamoorthy rejected the bail plea of Venkatachalam, observing that the accused was an important person and there was every possibility that he might tamper with witness if granted the relief.

He, however, dismissed the CBI petition seeking custody of Venkatachalam, saying it had been filed mechanically and did not have any material in support of the plea.