Officer’s bail extended till Aug 3

New Delhi: A trial court on Friday extended till August 3 the interim bail of ICLS officer BK Bansal, whose wife and daughter had committed suicide allegedly due to embarrassment after his arrest on charges of accepting a bribe. Special CBI Judge Gurdeep Singh allowed Bansal a longer break after an hour-long hearing in which CBI opposed the bail, while the accused, who came to court with his bandaged hand in a sling, expressed fears that his son might also commit suicide.
Saying that the CBI’s only motive in arresting Bansal was to “humiliate” him, Defence lawyer Ramesh Gupta said, “An arrest leads to many serious consequences not only for the accused but also for the family.” The senior advocate referred to multi-crore-rupee scam case such as Bofors, 2G and the Commonwealth Games where arrests had not been made prior to chargesheets being filed.
He said CBI should not oppose the bail because Bansal has to perform the rites related to the death of his wife and daughter and he himself was “traumatised” and under medical treatment. Gupta called opposition to the bail application “inhuman”, while alleging that the agency had threatened to implicate Bansal’s son in the case.
Gupta claimed it was the hostile atmosphere created by CBI that had driven Bansal’s daughter and wife to take their own lives.
He claimed that the agency had not allowed anyone to meet the family due to which they were “isolated” and depressed. “Not a single relative was allowed to meet them after Bansal’s arrest. CBI sleuths were stationed at his house. The two committed suicide within half an hour of their leaving the house,” Gupta said. Countering the defence’s submissions, CBI prosecutor said they had “full sympathy” with Bansal, but the case could not be ignored on account of the “unfortunate incident”. CBI said it was opposing the bail because the investigation was at a “crucial” stage.
The court extended the bail granted to Bansal on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the same amount. Apart from Bansal, the court also granted bail to co-accused Vinod Singh on a personal bond and surety of Rs 40,000 each, while directing him not to tamper with evidence or contact the other accused. Bansal, an officer in the ministry of corporate affairs in the rank of additional secretary, was arrested on July 16 for allegedly accepting a bribe from a pharmaceutical company.
His wife Satyabala (58) and daughter Neha (28) killed themselves at home in east Delhi’s Madhu Vihar three days later. Both had left behind separate suicide notes, in which they said the CBI raid had caused them “great humiliation” and they did not want to live after that.