5 corporate honchos seek bail in High Court in 2G case

New Delhi, Apr 21 (PTI) The five corporate honchos
arrested in 2G spectrum allocation case will have to remain in
jail till at least April 26 when the Delhi High Court will
resume hearing Thursday's inconclusive arguments in connection
with their bail pleas.
During the arguments on their bail petitions that lasted
for nearly four hours, the honchos objected to their arrest
Wednesday and told Justice Ajit Bharihoke that "mere
apprehension" of fleeing and tampering with the evidence was
not a "good enough" ground to "trample" their personal
liberty.
Justice Bharihoke, who would now hear remaining
arguments on April 26 on behalf of CBI, India's premier
investigating agency, also asked the defence counsels to
provide their main points in writing.
Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd Managing Director
Sanjay Chandra and Group MD of Reliance ADAG Gautam Doshi,
co-promoter of Swan Telecom Vinod Goenka and Reliance ADAG's
Surender Pipara and Hari Nair, who were not arrested by
CBI(Central Bureau of Investigation) during the investigation,
were sent to Tihar jail Wednesday.
Consequently, they had during the day immediately moved
the High Court for grant of bail which listed the matter for
hearing Thursday.
"Bail is the rule and jail is exception. The mere
apprehension (of CBI) is not good enough as the ground to
trample personal liberty of the accused," Former Attorney
General Soli J Sorabji, appearing for Gautam Doshi of Reliance
ADAG, said.
Besides Sorabji, a battery of senior defence lawyers,
Mukul Rohatgi, K T S Tulsi, Ranjit Kumar, Rajeev Nayar, N K
Kaul, assailed the dismissal of the bail plea of the accused
by the special CBI judge saying "he gravely erred in terming
the case as of the highest magnitude as it is the punishment
and not the amount involved that decides the same."
Initiating the proceedings, Tulsi, appearing for Sanjay
Chandra of Unitech, told Justice Ajit Bharihoke that in the
chargesheet, there were no specific allegation against his
client.
"The Special Judge had tarred everybody with same brush.
There are specific allegations against Swan Telecom like the
money trail of around Rs 215 crore. So far as I am concerned,
there is no specific allegation against me and the Unitech,"
Tulsi said.
Moreover, Sanjay Chandra was neither a MD nor a Director
nor a shareholder in the Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd,
a company which is an accused in the chargesheet, he said,
clarifying that infact, he was the MD of the Unitech Ltd which
was not even named as accused.
"His net worth is of Rs 5,000 crore and he cannot flee
from the country as he has got a fixed abode here," he said.
Tulsi also cited a Delhi High Court judgement saying
"we are covered by the judgement which says that courts,
invariably, grant bail in such cases."
There was no illegality involved if it was alleged that
the company was "ineligible" for the grant of UAS Licenses.
Dismissing the bail plea, the special court said "a bare
perusal of the facts of the case and the allegations in the
chargesheet make it out a case of the highest magnitude and
gravity and there is enough incriminating material on record
against the accused."