SC Lifts Stay On Grant Of Anticipatory Bail To The Accused In Jodhpur Development Authority Scam [Read Order]

The Supreme Court’s Vacation Bench of Justices A.K.Sikri and Deepak Gupta, on Tuesday, lifted its stay on the Rajasthan High court’s grant of anticipatory bail to the accused in the Jodhpur Development Authority scam. On Monday, senior counsel, Kapil Sibal had assailed the stay granted by another bench on May 2 as unjustified.

The Vacation Bench, while disagreeing with the High Court on the grounds for the grant of anticipatory bail, however, decided not to fault with its discretion exercised by it, in respect of three of the four accused.

However, with respect to Rajendra Singh Solanki, the fourth accused, who was the former Chairman of the JDA, the bench found the allegations against him serious, and disagreed with the High Court’s exercise of discretion in favour of anticipatory bail for him.

Nevertheless, the bench took into consideration the fact that Solanki, who was taken into custody on May 2, has been in jail for 28 days. Therefore, it directed his release on bail, as the custodial interrogation might have been completed in his case.

The bench imposed certain conditions on Solanki during the period of the bail, including that he should remain out of Rajasthan for six months. However, it allowed him to attend the meetings of the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation, in which he is the leader of the Opposition.

Read the Order here.