INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - OCTOBER 21^st - NOVEMBER 15^th - 2007

HIGH COURT VACATES STAY ON AKHAND PRATAP SINGH'S BAIL

The Delhi High Court has vacated the stay on the order that had granted bail to former UP chief secretary Akhand Pratap Singh arrested in a disproportionate assets case. The court dismissed the plea of CBI which had sought for the cancellation of his bail.

Justice V P Gupta said, "The present petition for cancellation of bail is dismissed and the stay granted stands vacated." Ordering for the release of the former bureaucrat, the court said, "there is nothing on record to show, at this stage, that after the trial court has passed the bail order, the respondent (Akhand Pratap Singh) had made any effort to tamper with the evidence or influence any of the witnesses while in custody."

"However, it is made clear that if, after the release from judicial custody, the respondent tries to influence any of the prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence, then the petitioner will be at liberty to approach the trial court for cancellation of the bail or modification of the conditions," said Justice Gupta.

The court said, "the present case does not pertain to an offence of a heinous nature". It rejected a CBI plea that said the trial court order was bad in law. The court said order granting him bail was neither cryptic nor based on any extraneous factors. "I do not find any perversity or illegality in the impugned order passed by the judge," said Justice Gupta.

Singh was arrested on September 25. He is alleged to have acquired several immovable properties in Delhi, UP and Uttarakhand worth crore of rupees and also of forging signatures of his dead father and a friend.