Special Judge M K Nagpal granted the relief to Raman on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh with one surety of like amount in the case. (Representational)A Delhi court Thursday granted bail to S Bhaskar Raman, chartered accountant of Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram, in a case related to visas being given to Chinese nationals by allegedly flouting rules. The court observed that there was a violation of Supreme Court-mandated guidelines in this case.
Special Judge M K Nagpal granted the relief to Raman on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh with one surety of like amount in the case.
The court said the investigating agency has tried to “play smart” while clubbing provisions of Section 41A (1) with Section 41 (1) (b) CrPC, which empowers a police officer to arrest without warrants an accused against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or a credible information has been received or a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed an offence, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term up to seven years.
“….clubbing of two provisions was not at all required… It appears to this court as if the investigating agency from the beginning had an intention to arrest the applicant in this case, rather than first interrogating him, and this intention was also reflected in the manner in which the notice is stated or alleged to have been served upon him,” the court said.
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The court said it comes out clearly that the accused was virtually and physically in custody of CBI officials at the time of service of the notice to join investigation and, thus, he had no liberty to have recourse to legal remedies or to surrender himself in the court of a judicial magistrate.
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