The Supreme Court today asked Paramjit Singh Chahal, an industrialist accused in a multi- crore drug racket case, to surrender himself on November 14 before it takes up for hearing his bail plea.
"You first surrender on November 14. We will list this petition for hearing on November 16," a bench comprising Justices T S Thakur and R Banumathi said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chahal, said it was wrong to say that he was evading arrest for last five months and moreover, his brother and similarly placed co- accused, Jagjit Singh Chahal, has already been granted bail.
Chahal has challenged the order of a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which cancelled the bail granted to him by a single-judge bench.
There was "avoidable haste" by the single-judge bench "in entertaining the pre-arrest bail" of the absconding accused, the high court had said.
It had also termed the order of granting interim and final pre-arrest bail to Chahal as an "erroneous exercise of discretionary power" by the high court.
Chahal and his brother Jagjit Singh Chahal have two pharmaceutical units - M/s Montek Biopharma and MBP Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd.
They are charged with misappropriating two controlled substances, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, supplying to them at concessional rates for illicit manufacturing and illegal trade of synthetic drugs to racketeers at much inflated price.
