UDAYAN KISHOR
udayankishor@thestatesman.net
New Delhi, 12 July
A city court today said the menace of corruption has affected the country for many years and the mindset of ‘right connections’ and ‘sifarish’ for getting one’s work done by jumping the queue or obtaining a contract or tender without deserving it by paying a bribe, needs to to be changed by sending a strong message to such elements of society.
Making these observations, the court dismissed the bail plea of former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla and six others in the Rs 10 crore cash-for-post railway bribery case, as they can tamper with the evidence or influence witnesses, if released on bail.
The court added that courts of law are neither caged nor parrots who will take any charge-sheet filed before them, while dismissing the contentions of the defence counsel that CBI has filed the charge-sheet under pressure and has let off the real culprits. 
On the defence’s contention that the CBI has filed the charge-sheet in a hurry only to ensure that the accused do not get bail, the court pointed out, “The argument rather amuses me, as to whether they want to argue that the CBI should themselves have ensured grant of mandatory bail to the accused by not filing the charge-sheet?”
 “It is strange that in this case when by their efforts they succeeded in filing the charge-sheet in time, they are being questioned.”
Besides Singla, special CBI judge Swarana Kanta Sharma also dismissed bail pleas of suspended Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar, MD of Bangalore-based G G Tronics India Pvt Ltd Narayan Rao Manjunath and alleged middleman Sandeep Goyal, saying they were the main players who hatched the
conspiracy. 
“I have carefully gone through the intercepted conversations between Sandeep Goyal, Manjunath, Vijay Singla and Mahesh Kumar… After going through the same, I am of the opinion that a perusal of the conversation between the above mentioned accused and their conversation with other co-accused, clearly points out that they are the main players of hatching the conspiracy and ensuring that it is executed and taken to its logical end,” said the court.
Apart from the four accused, the court rejected bail pleas of Rahul Yadav, Samir Sandhir and Sushil Daga, who all were arrested in May.
While passing any order, the court said, it remains aware that if the high and mighty should not escape the law due to their position, there should not be instances when they should be targeted only because they hold a high position or are related to a person holding high position.
The court also said Mr Bansal, who has been made a witness in this particular case by the CBI, will be examined at the appropriate stage of trial.