Syndicate bank case: court to decide bail pleas of two accused

A Delhi court today reserved its order for tomorrow on the bail pleas of Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Prakash Industries Ltd, Ved Prakash Agarwal, and its Director Vipul Agarwal, who along with others were arrested in the Syndicate Bank bribery case.
"I have heard arguments of counsel of accused Ved Prakash Agarwal and Vipul Agarwal. Order reserved for tomorrow," Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma said.
During the arguments on the bail applications, advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for both the accused, told the court that CBI's case against both his clients was merely on the basis of recorded conversations allegedly intercepted by the agency.

"CBI has alleged that my client (Ved Prakash Agarwal) had Syndicate Bank's CMD in his pocket but the condition imposed on the firm for sanction of loan were such that it could never be fulfilled and moreover the loan amount was also reduced," he said.
Seeking bail for Vipul Agarwal, the lawyer contended that his client had resigned from the post of Director of Prakash Industries Ltd in October 31 last year and he was now nowhere associated with the company.
"No recovery of cash is made from my client (Vipul) nor any incriminating material was recovered from him and on mere assumption that he is indulging in corrupt practises, he has been arrested," Agarwal said.

Countering the contentions of the defence counsel, CBI's prosecutor Akshay Gautam said the probe into the case was still underway and if released on bail at this stage, the accused may try to tamper with the evidence.
During the proceedings, the court also heard partial arguments on the bail pleas of co-accused Arun Kumar Agarwal and Pankaj Bansal.
All the accused are in judicial custody till August 29. On August 2, CBI had arrested six accused, including Syndicate Bank CMD Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ved Prakash Agarwal in connection with the case.