Former bureaucrats Jairaj Phatak and Ramanand Tiwari get bail in Adarsh case

MUMBAI: Former BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak and Former state information commissioner Ramanad Tiwari who were arrested by the CBI in Adarsh scam were granted bail on Thursday by the special CBI court as the agency could not file the charge sheet against these two accused in the stipulated period of 60 days.

The court granted bail on a bond of Rs.5 lakh and on the condition that both the accused shall mark their attendance at CBI office twice a week and should submit their passports to the agency. Both the accused had filed a bail application on Monday which came up for hearing on Thursday.

The bail plea filed by Pathak's lawyer Swapna Kode argued that Mr. Phatak was entitled to be released as the charge sheet was not filed within 60 days and the stipulated period came to an end on June 4. While Tiwari's lawyer Sadanand Shetty also argued that his client is entitled to get bail on the same grounds. CBI sources said the charge sheet is likely to be filed in this case in about two weeks.

Earlier on May 29, the sessions court granted bail to seven accused suspended IAS officer Pradeep Vyas, former deputy secretary in urban development department P. V. Deshmukh, Brigadier (retd) M. M. Wanchoo, retired Defence Estates Officer R C Thakur, Major General (Retd) A R Kumar, Major Gen (Retd) T K Kaul and former MLC Kanhaiyyalal Gidwani. So all those arrested in Adarsh case are now out on bail.

All the accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy under IPC and various sections under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act.