Jammu February-11-2023-Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu Tahir Khurshid Raina granted interim bail to Mohd Abdullah Charoo then Chairman BOSE in ETT Scam.
While granting interim bail to Ex-Chairman BOSE, Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu Tahir Khurshid Raina after hearing Advocates Siddhant Gupta & Abid Chowdhary for the applicant, observed that it is trite that bail is a rule and jail is an exception. Moreso, as per the mandate of the Supreme Court of India, the arrest should be the last option and it should be restricted to those exceptional cases, where arresting the accused is quite imperative in the facts and circumstances of the case. Besides, the custodial interrogation of a person is invoked when the investigating officer of the case believes that the said person/accused will abscond or disobey summons or is required to be produced in custody, or the crime is so heinous and there is every possibility of the accused to flee from the investigation and that he can influence the witnesses. However, on my perusal of the report, I have not found any such fact pleaded therein against the accused. On the other hand, the counsel for the applicant has very fairly and candidly stated before the court that the applicant is fully ready to participate in and cooperate with the investigation.
With these observations, Court held that the prayer of the applicant is sustained and he is granted interim bail till next date of hearing, subject to furnishing personal and surety bonds of Rs. 50,000/- each with the following conditions:that he will fully participate in the investigation and will respond to the directions of the IO in this regard;that he will not leave the UT of J&K without the prior permission of this court and that he will not influence the witnesses in any manner.
Court further cleared that any violation of the said conditions by the applicant will entail the rejection of the interim bail granted to him. IO will be at liberty to seek cancellation of the bail in case the applicant violates any of the conditions subject to which the concession of interim bail has been granted to him.
According to the Crime Branch report that the applicant in the capacity of the then Chairman, J&K BOSE, in the year 2002-03, connived with the promoters of the ETT Schools and approved illegal permissions of the said schools in their favour without getting conducted any inspection, and putting in place rules/norms for running said schools which amount to criminal misconduct on his part in terms of J&K Prevention of corruption Act 2006. That quizzing with regard to reasons for granting permission for start of ETT Colleges is required from him and to unveil the nexus of this crime, the custodial interrogation of the applicant is required. JNF