Louis Berger bribery case: Bombay HC upholds anticipatory bail to Digambar Kamat

Panaji: The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has upheld the order of a trial court here that granted anticipatory bail to former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat in the Louis Berger bribery case.

In its order pronounced on Wednesday, single judge bench of Justice C V Bhadang dismissed the appeal filed by the prosecution.

The prosecution had challenged the bail granted to Kamat on technical grounds, arguing that the order was bad in law and that the trial court had done so without considering the merits of the case.

Kamat, the current MLA from Margao, had, on the other hand, argued that he was entitled to his liberty because the police had not followed proper procedure in the run up to his attempted arrest.

Earlier this week, the trial court had granted bail to two other accused in the case -- former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project director Anand Wachasundar.

The trio are accused in the case wherein ministers in Goa allegedly received bribes to the tune of USD 976,000 to grant contracts for a JICA-funded water supply and sewerage project in the state.

The police have already filed a charge sheet in the case naming Alemao, Wachasundar and five others but stopped short of naming Kamat saying that his custodial interrogation is necessary to complete the probe against him.