A Delhi court on Tuesday extended till Jan 27, 2020 the interim bail of all six bureaucrats in INX Media case Arguments on regular bail and scrutiny of documents will be taken up on that date, the court said.

At today’s hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) opposed the bail and said that there is every likelihood of accused may escape. It also stated that they may skip the trial, and indulge in evidence tampering thereby detrimentally affecting the trial.

Previously, the Special CBI judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar had granted interim bail to the six bureaucrats who were part of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) team which approved authorization to INX Media, in which former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram is also facing charges.

It had directed all the bureaucrats — Rabindra Prasad, Ajeet Kumar Dungdung, Pradeep Kumar Bagga, Prabodh Saxena, Anup K Pujari and Sindhushree Khullar —  to furnish a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh each and one surety of like amount.

It is pertinent to note that the premier investigating agency had chargesheeted 14 entities in the case which includes four companies, six bureaucrats and four other persons – P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram, Peter Mukerjea and S Bhaskaran (he is on anticipatory bail). Mukerjea’s wife Indrani Mukerjea was also an accused in the case but charges were dropped against her after she turned approver in the case.

The CBI has charged the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and for taking gratification and criminal wrongdoing under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

P Chidamabaram and Karti was named by the case by the Mukerjeas who are lodged Mumbai’s Byculla jail pertaining to the murder of Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora. Chidambaram has been granted bail by the Supreme Court.

—India Legal Bureau