A special court has refused to grant bail to a Central Excise Department superintendent in a case of alleged theft of gold from the Department’s vaults at the Indira Gandhi International Airports (IGIA) here.
Special Judge Rakesh Pandit denied bail to Sanjiv Kumar saying that he might hamper the ongoing probe which is at a crucial stage. A Metropolitan Magistrate Court had earlier dismissed Mr. Kumar’s bail plea.
‘Accused might flee’
The CBI has alleged that around 125 kg of gold seized by the Customs Department over the past three decades was pilfered from the vaults at IGIA. The accused was the custodian of the valuable material godown of the Customs Department at the airport between 2002 and 2004. Opposing Mr. Kumar’s bail plea, the prosecution argued that he would flee if released on bail.
It further submitted that the gold was replaced with non-precious metal, which had Mr. Kumar’s fingerprints on it.
The probe agency had initially registered cases related to pilferage of 53 kg of gold. However, a probe later revealed that around 125 kg of gold was missing.