Abhishek Verma, wife remanded to judicial custody

Abhishek Verma and wife,arrested for receiving money from Swiss arm to stall blacklisting proceedings,were remanded to judicial custody till July 4.

New Delhi: Businessman Abhishek Verma and his Romanian wife, arrested for allegedly receiving money from a Swiss arm on promise that it will not be blacklisted by the Indian government, were on Thursday remanded to judicial custody till July 4 by a Delhi court.

Verma and his newly-wed Romanian wife Ancia Neascu, who were arrested by CBI on June 8, were produced before Special Judge Sanjeev Jain and the agency told the court that they should be sent to judicial custody as the probe in the case is still going on.

"The investigation officer (IO) has requested for judicial custody of both the accused as the investigation in the case is pending. Both the accused are remanded to judicial custody till July 4," the judge said.

The court also issued notice to the CBI for July 4 for its response on Ancia Neascu`s bail plea.

After the court remanded both the accused to judicial custody, counsel for Ancia sought the court`s permission to allow his client to take some articles, including cosmetics used for prevention from allergy, to the jail.

The court, however, refused to entertain the application and the counsel did not press for it.

Regarding the defence counsel plea that home-cooked food be allowed to be provided to the accused in the jail, the court asked the prison authorities to consider the request as per the jail rules.

The couple was arrested by the CBI on June 8 after the agency registered a fresh case against them.

In the new case, Verma has been accused of taking USD 530,000 from Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (RAD) for using his influence to stall the blacklisting proceedings initiated by the government against it after the Ordnance Factory Board scam had surfaced.

PTI

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