A court in Delhi on Friday granted interim bail to six bureaucrats who worked with former Union minister P Chidambaram in connection with the INX Media case, PTI reported.
The INX Media case concerns the grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval to INX Media in 2007-’08 during Chidambaram’s tenure as the finance minister. The bureaucrats were part of the board.
Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar granted bail to former NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Sindhushree Khullar, former Officer on Special Duty to finance minister Pradeep Kumar Bagga and former Foreign Investment Promotion Board Director Prabodh Saxena. Former Section Officer of the FIPB unit in the Finance Ministry Ajeet Kumar Dungdung, then Under Secretary in the FIPB unit Rabindra Prasad and former Joint Secretary (Foreign Trade) Anup K Pujari were also granted interim bail by the court .
The court granted them bail on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and one surety of like amount.
A notice was also issued to the Central Bureau of Investigation to seek their response on the bail applications moved by the bureaucrats.
The next hearing is on December 17.
Kuhar had issued summons to the public servants after taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the CBI. The probe agency had told the court that it has necessary sanctions to prosecute all the public servants involved the case.
The bureaucrats have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and for taking gratification and criminal misconduct of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Last month, 71 former bureaucrats, including former Foreign Secretary and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, protesting against the government’s decision to grant the Central Bureau of Investigation sanction to prosecute them.
P Chidambaram is currently lodged in Tihar Jail for alleged irregularities in the case.
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