Judicial remand for Syndicate Bank bribery accused

Special CBI judge remanded S K Jain, Neeraj Singal and others in judicial custody till Sept 30

Syndicate Bank’s dismissed chairman and managing director (CMD) S K Jain, Bhushan Steel Ltd Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Neeraj Singal and others, arrested in a bribery case, were on Wednesday remanded in judicial custody till September 30 by a special court.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma sent the accused to six days in judicial custody after they were produced in the court after expiry of their remand.

During the day, alleged middleman Purushottam Totlani, who was in CBI custody till Wednesday, was produced before the court which remanded him in judicial custody till September 30.

The court had on Tuesday rejected the CBI’s plea seeking police custody of Jain and alleged middleman Vineet Godha on the ground that they were not telling the facts and were not cooperating in the probe.

S K Jain, Neeraj Singal, CMD of Prakash Industries Limited Ved Prakash Agarwal, Vineet Godha and other accused were arrested by CBI in connection with the case. Totlani was arrested by the agency after he surrendered in the court on September 17.

According to the probe agency, the alleged bribe amount in the case was sent to Godha through Totlani who was in touch with him and also knew Jain.

Singal was arrested by CBI on August 7, hours after the court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him and Totlani.

They were apprehended in connection with two separate graft cases in which CBI had booked them under the Prevention of Corruption Act and for the charge of criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

On August 2, CBI had arrested some of the accused in connection with the case and claimed to have recovered Rs 21 lakh in cash from Jain's residence besides gold worth Rs 1.68 crore and documents of fixed deposits of up to Rs 63 lakh.

The agency has filed two cases against Jain, accusing him of receiving a bribe of Rs 50 lakh through conduits and abusing his official position to enhance the credit limits of some companies in violation of laid-down procedures.