Nishka Srinivas Veluvali –
Published On: November 21, 2021 at 18:10 IST
The Special Court granted Bail to the retired Navy officers Randeep Singh and S.J. Singh and others in the Case of reportedly leak of confidential information related to submarine projects for commercial benefits, stating that although the central agency has Filedthe chargesheets within 60 days but the documents are incomplete as they do not claim anything regarding the Probe conducted under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Further on the Court even granted bail to T.P Sastry, executive director of Allen Reinforced Plastics Limited, Hyderabad based firm, the officials stated.
Special Judge Anuradha Shukla Bharadwaj granted default bail to the two retired officers, who were arrested on September 2 and Mr. Sastry, who was arrested on September 8 on a personal bond of Rs.1 lakh each and other conditions.
If the Investigating agency does not file the chargesheet within the 60 days or 90 days depending upon the charges pressed, the accused is entitled to default bail.
The Judge stated, “Although the agency has Filed its chargesheets within the 60 days on November 2, the documents are “incomplete” as those do not mention anything about the Probe under OSA, that makes the Accused eligible for the Bail.”
The Judge even noted that the CBI has provided all the documents related to the Investigation but did not mention about the Investigation that was held under Official Secrets Act.
“This makes the Accused eligible for the Default Bail as per Section 167(2) of CrPC”, the Judge noted
The CBI had conducted raids on the retired naval officers Commander Randeep Singh and Commander Satwinder Jeet Singh on September 2 followed by procuring the information that the latter was going to share confidential details connected to a meeting in the Navy on procurement, after which both the officers were arrested on the same day.
The agency is also probing the allegations into the leak of crucial information regarding to the procurement and maintenance of naval equipment for monetary gains and bribery deal with Allen Reinforced Plastics Limited.