A Delhi court has granted bail to five individuals who were arrested in a corruption case involving the Burari Transport Authority.
The case revolves around the fraudulent transfer of auto permits using forged documents, leading to a loss of government revenue.
Special Judge Jay Thareja took into consideration that the investigating agency was in the process of examining more than 5,000 permit transfers at the Authority, a task expected to require a substantial amount of time. Given this, the court determined that it was not justifiable to keep the accused in judicial custody for an extended period.
The accused individuals, namely Anil Sethi, Ravinder Kumar, Anoop Sharma, Ajit Kumar, and Deepak Chawla, had already spent a significant amount of time in custody since their arrest on June 29.
The judge noted that the bail applications of the accused should be granted, especially since many other accused individuals facing more serious allegations had been granted bail. Keeping the accused in judicial custody was not likely to serve any useful purpose.
However, the court imposed certain conditions on the accused, including staying at least 500 meters away from the Burari Transport Authority without prior permission from the court, refraining from contacting or influencing witnesses in any manner, and not tampering with evidence.
The Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi Police had alleged that a significant number of auto-rickshaw permits in Delhi, which had a fixed cap of one lakh, were being traded illegally due to collusion among financiers, auto-rickshaw dealers, touts, and Authority officials. This collusion resulted in exorbitant prices for auto-rickshaws in Delhi, far above their actual on-road prices.
The investigation also revealed that during the COVID-19 epidemic, the financiers, dealers, touts, and Authority officials had misused a government scheme to facilitate illegal transfers of thousands of auto-rickshaws permits. This not only led to substantial revenue loss for the government but also exploited and harassed legitimate auto-rickshaw owners in Delhi.
