Delhi Court Extends Interim Bail Granted To Bureaucrats Linked To INX Media Corruption Case Until January 27, 2020

The interim bail granted to former NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar and six other bureaucrats have been extended by a Delhi court until January 27, 2020, in the INX Media corruption case.

Incidentally, all of them were part of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) which granted had approval to INX Media during P Chidambaram's tenure as union finance minister.

Besides the former NITI Aayog CEO, the court also granted relief to other bureaucrats involved in the case like Ajeet Kumar Dungdung, the then Section Officer; Rabindra Prasad, the then Under Secretary, Prabodh Saxena, Director, FIPB unit of the Union Finance Ministry; Pradeep Kumar Bagga, the then Officer on Special Duty (OSD), and Anup K Pujari, the then joint secretary.

Arguments on granting regular bail and scrutiny of documents will also be held on January 27, 2020. Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had opposed the regular bail petition of these bureaucrats stating they might tamper with the evidence if granted bail.

Earlier, the court had adjourned the hearing after senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and advocate Vikash Kumar Pathak, appearing for the accused, sought time to advance arguments on the replies filed by the CBI.

It may be recalled that the CBI had filed a charge-sheet against the 14 accused, including P Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram, his accountant S Bhaskaran, former INX Media director Peter Mukerjea, INX Media, INX News, Chess Management Services Private Limited, Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, and a handful of bureaucrats.

The accused were charged for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and for taking gratification and criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.