Delhi court grants bail to official held for graft in Elder Pharma Case

New Delhi : A Delhi court granted bail to former Corporate Affairs Ministry officer B.K. Bansal, who was arrested for taking a bribe but barred him from entering his office and leaving Delhi without permission.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Gurdeep Singh granted him the bail against a personal bond of Rs.1 lakh and a surety of like amount.

Observing that "unfortunate incidents" had occured in Bansal's family while his only son was in depression, the court defined it "peculiar circumstances" waranting grant of bail.

The court told Bansal neither to tamper with evidence nor contact any officer in his office. It asked him not to visit his office without permission of the investigating officer.

Bansal was earlier granted interim bail on July 22 to cremate his wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27, who committed suicide at their flat in Neelkanth Apartments in east Delhi after the CBI raided it.

He had surrendered before the court on August 22 and was remanded to 14 days judicial custody.

Bansal was an additional secretary-ranked Director General in the Corporate Affairs Ministry. He was arrested by the CBI on July 16 for allegedly receiving Rs 9 lakh from Mumbai-based Elder Pharmaceuticals.

The court also granted bail to co-accused Vishwadeep Bansal, a distributor of Elder Pharmaceuticals, on furnishing of a personal and surety bond of Rs one lakh.

Two other accused, chartered accountant Gopal Krishan and middleman Vinod Singh, are already out on bail.