HC grants bail to former Speaker Kadian, 2 others

New Delhi, January 11

The Delhi High Court today granted bail to INLD leader and former Haryana Assembly Speaker Satbir Singh Kadian, who was serving seven years of jail term in the over 20-year-old IFFCO graft case.

Justice Mukta Gupta, who has enlarged Kadian on bail, has asked him to furnish a personal bail bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount.

Besides 66-year-old Kadian, the High Court also granted bail to 65-year-old IIT alumni Anil Kumar Malhotra and 70-year-old Sunil Gorawara, ex-senior manager (Deposits) of UCO Bank who are also serving seven years of imprisonment.

The High Court has asked the convicts not to leave Delhi without intimating the lower court.

The court order came on a plea by the convicts, who came in appeal against the trial court’s decision on August 26 last year by which the accused were handed seven years of jail term in the case.

The trial court had also sentenced 84-year-old Karuna Pati Pandey, ex-senior manager (Cash) of the bank, to two years of imprisonment considering his old age and that he was facing financial burden and had suffered punishment during trial for a single mistake or offence committed by him. Pandey was released on bail from the trial court itself.

Refusing to show any leniency to Kadian, the trial court had said he was a role model for the country, including Haryana, and if such persons were given minimum sentence, it will affect the morale of the entire nation.

According to the CBI, while working as Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) Chairman during February to April 1991, Kadian had invested Rs 32.90 crore, the surplus fund of IFFCO, at lower rate of interest and caused a loss of over Rs 15 lakh to the organisation.

It had said that in one transaction of Rs 4 crore meant for UCO Bank, New Delhi, for investment, the money was dishonestly and fraudulently diverted to the personal account of accused share broker Harshad Shantilal Mehta through his Delhi-based representative.

The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 5 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50,000 on convicts Kadian, 64-year-old Vinayak Narayan Deosthali, ex-assistant manager (Funds) of UCO Bank, Malhotra, Gorawara and Pandey, respectively. Deosthali was handed seven-year jail term.

During the trial, the accused had denied the incriminating material against them and claimed innocence.

All five accused were held guilty of various offences, including criminal conspiracy, dishonest misappropriation of movable property, criminal breach of trust by public servant under the IPC and criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act. — PTI