A Special (CBI) Court of Mohan Chaubey granted bail to the former Inspector General of unified Bihar Ramchandra Khan, arrested from Patna on Tuesday in connection with a uniform purchase scam. He has been asked to appear before the court on the dates fixed for the hearing.
“Khan was today (on Thursday) granted bail by the special CBI judge on the condition that he would appear in the court as and when required to record his statement. Next date for recording statement under Section 313 has been fixed for February 10,” said his advocate RK Jha. The case relates to the financial irregularities during the purchase of uniforms for Bihar Military Police (BMP) in the tune of Rs 42 lakh. Khan was posted as additional inspector-general (budget) when the scam was committed.
The case of financial bungling was registered by the CBI in October, 1986, but the charges were framed in 2007. The purchases of uniforms were allegedly made from the local market to meet the shortage arising from the central procurement system in violation of the norms at prices much above the approved rates. Moreover, the suppliers were also not approved by the central purchase committee.
It was argued before the court that he was not absconding and had only been trying to avail the facilities which are granted under the process of law, Jha added. Khan has been asked to submit two bail bonds of Rs 25,000 each. A warrant of arrest against Khan and seven others was issued by the CBI court on June 20 last year after they failed to appear before it despite several notices and summons resulting into the delay in the trial process.
Other accused persons includes former AIG (budget) R.H. Das, former sergeant Ramanuj Sharma, former sergeant major Jaydev Sen, former sergeant officer Yogdhar Jha, former BMP commandant Rajendra Sharma along with the two suppliers Ragvendra Singh and Kailash Agrawal, owners of JKB Industry. While three other accused persons — former SPs OT Minz and Anil Kumar along with former DSP Ajit Dutta passed away.