Mumbai: A special court on Tuesday rejected CBI`s
demand for further custody of Srabjyot Singh, son of NCSC
Chairman Buta Singh, and three others in a bribery case and
remanded them in judicial custody till August 12.
The court also posted their bail petitions for hearing
tomorrow.
"I am rejecting CBI`s demand for custody of all accused
as sufficient time has been given for probe to the
investigating agency...I also feel that further custodial
interrogation is not necessary," judge S P Hayatnagarkar
observed.
Besides Srabjyot, the other accused arrested in the case
are Anup Begi, Dukhsingh Chouhan and Madan Solanki.
They are facing charges of seeking a bribe of Rs one
crore from Nashik-based contractor Rama Rao Patil to close a
case pending before the National Commission for Scheduled
Castes against him.
Patil had allegedly taken Rs 10 crore loan from a bank in
the names of 100 conservancy workers without their consent and
failed to pay the sum.
CBI said accused Srabjyot Singh alias Sweety was not
cooperating with the probe and that he had denied his role in
the crime.
CBI further said it wanted to take Srabjyot to Delhi for
further investigations to ascertain the chain of events and
modus operandi of the crime.
The investigating agency said Srabjyot was not revealing
the name of the owner of mobile number from which several
calls were made to hawala operators in Mumbai and Bangalore.
Srabjyot is trying to mislead the investigations, CBI
alleged.
CBI informed the court that three more accused -- Shamlal
Choudhary, an alleged hawala operator from Bangalore, Ishwar
Singh and Chandan Singh -- are wanted in the case.
Ishwar and Chandan are servants of arrested accused Madan
Solanki and Dukhsingh Chouhan, alleged hawala operators from
Mumbai.
The CBI said that both Ishwar and Chandan are suspected
to be carriers of money in pursuant to the conspiracy hatched
in Delhi.
Srabjyot`s lawyer Satish Maneshinde, said the accused has
a right to silence and Srabjyot does not want to answer any
questions put forth by CBI.
Maneshinde alleged that CBI had threatened to falsely
implicate Srabjyot`s father Buta Singh in the case if he
(Srabjyot) did not confess.
He said a letter had been sent by Buta Singh to Nasik
Police Commissioner alleging that the complainant, Ramrao
Patil, was trying to vitiate the case registered against him
in Nasik and also trying to influence it (the case) by
offering gratitude to Buta`s family members.
Maneshinde also requested the court to find out whether
the Nasik Police Commissioner had acted on the letter sent by
Buta Singh.
Meanwhile, all the four accused, including Srabjyot,
applied for bail and the court asked prosecution to file a
reply by tomorrow.
Bureau Report
