NEW DELHI: The Delhi HC on Friday granted bail to freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma, arrested in an espionage case under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking sensitive information to Chinese intelligence, after police failed to file its chargesheet within the statutory period of 60 days. This comes even as Delhi Police’s special cell filed a chargesheet on the day in a city court against Sharma and two of his accomplices.
Justice Yogesh Khanna granted the relief to Sharma on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount, which shall be given by him within a week once the trial court resumes its normal functioning.
While the trial court had dismissed Sharma’s bail plea after concluding that in this case police have time of 90 days to file the chargesheet, the HC set aside the lower court’s order as being “illegal” and said that in this case, the period would be 60 days. “The petitioner is thus entitled to default bail; the challan having not been filed within 60 days,” the HC noted, paving the way for release of the journalist arrested on September 14.