Metro scam: accused ex-IAS officer seeks bail; CID opposes

Sanjay Gupta, the jailed ex-IAS officer and former Executive Chairman of Metrolink Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad' (MEGA), today sought bail in the Rs 113-crore metro rail scam.
In the application before Additional Sessions Judge N G Dave, Gupta said he had been wrongly implicated in the case.
Since the case was based on documentary evidence, there was no need to keep him in jail, said the application. His former aide and MEGA project's former Construction Manager Radhesh Bhatt too has sought bail.
CID, which is probing the scam, opposed the bail pleas.
The affidavit, filed by the investigating officer DSP S G Parmar, said Gupta had tried to influence the witnesses and tamper with the evidence and CID had audio and video evidence of this.

Further hearing on the bail applications would take place tomorrow.

CID arrested Gupta and Bhatt on May 14, alleging that financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 113 crore took place during their tenures in MEGA in 2012.
Gupta quit IAS in 2003 to start his own business. He owns Neesa Group which runs hotels. He was appointed Executive Chairman of Metro project in 2011 and resigned in August 2013.
CID has alleged that Gupta and seven of his subordinates siphoned off Rs 113 crore by presenting forged bills and bogus documents related to ground filling work carried out near Bhat village for Metro project in 2012.

Gupta also allegedly floated several bogus firms by appointing Neesa Group employees as directors and showed these firms as material suppliers. He paid Rs 11.12 crore to seven such companies and the money eventually went to his own accounts, CID says. It has also alleged that Gupta accepted Rs 60 crore as commission from other suppliers.