Sukh Ram'S Remand Extended

Bharihoke ruled yesterday that the remand order will run concurrently in both the cases.

The CBI counsel earlier told the court that the officials could not interrogate the former minister properly as he was unavailable due to medical reasons. Sukh Ram's interrogation is being carried out at the Lok Nayak Bhavan office of the Central Bureau of Investigation, where he has been provided with a separate room and a doctor, besides some other facilities.

Sukh Ram's counsel yesterday challenged his client's arrest under the Prevention of Corruption Act, claiming that members of Parliament were not public servants and therefore did not fall under the purview of the Act.

According to the Act, he said, a public servant is one who could be removed from his post by a competent authority and there was no authority which could remove MPs.

The counsel's contention was dismissed by the special judge who held that Sukh Ram was a minister who could have been removed from his post by the President and hence fell under the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI yesterday told the judge in his chamber about a diary, purportedly handwritten by the former minister, and pleaded that it needed to verify the entries. Bharihoke accepted the plea and said further interrogation of the accused was necessary.

The investigating agency arrested Sukh Ram as soon as he landed in the country on September 16.

The next day he was produced before Bharihoke, who remanded him to Central Bureau of Investigation custody for seven days.

One case against him refers to the inflated prices at which rural telecom equipment was supplied to the department of telecommunication, causing a loss of Rs 1.68 crore to the government, and the other to assets disproportionate to his knows sources of income acquired by the former minister.