A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav in the Railways' land-for-jobs case.
Ms. Misa Bharti, the eldest of RJD president Lalu Prasad and Ms. Rabri Devi's children, is a Rajya Sabha member from Bihar.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne granted relief to the three after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not oppose the bail applications.
The Central probe agency submitted that considering the serious nature of the case, stringent conditions should be imposed on the accused while granting them bail.
"Reply has been filed on behalf of the ED to the applications for regular bail moved on behalf of the accused persons, namely Rabri Devi, Misha Bharti, Hema Yadav and Hridyanand Chaudhary. The counsel for the ED has adverted to the nature of allegations involving money laundering and submits that the same are grievous in nature and if the court were to consider admitting the accused persons to bail, stringent conditions may be imposed," the judge noted.
The counsel for the accused submitted that since the investigating agency did not find it necessary to arrest them during the investigation, there was no plausible reason for the court to deny them the relief of regular bail now.
"It is the apparent scenario that the accused persons were not arrested consciously by the investigating agency. Hence, there is no reason for the court to employ any further stringent standard to speculate whether the accused persons are likely to flee from trial or influence witnesses if they are admitted to regular bail. All bail applications are allowed," the judge said.
The judge granted the relief to the accused on a personal bond and a surety bond of ₹1 lakh each.
Court’s directive
He directed them to not leave the country without prior permission of the court and not contact, influence or coerce any person or witnesses connected with the case.
"The accused persons shall appear before the court when directed. The accused persons shall inform the ED regarding their mobile phone numbers and address, as well as any change in the same," the judge said and posted the matter for further hearing on March 16, 2024.
The judge had on February 9 granted them interim bail after the ED said it needed time to advance arguments on their regular bail applications.
The accused appeared before the court after it took cognisance of the ED's charge sheet and issued them summons.
