Syndicate Bank’s suspended CMD S.K Jain and a co-accused in a bribery case were today remanded in CBI custody till tomorrow by a special court after the agency said they were required to be confronted with alleged middleman Purushottam Totlani.
Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma sent Jain and Vineet Godha to CBI custody after they were produced in court in pursuance to the production warrants issued against them on September 20.
During the hearing, the CBI sought custodial interrogation of both the accused saying they were to be confronted with Totlani, who is already in their custody after surrendering before the court on September 17.
According to the probe agency, the alleged bribe amount in the case was sent to Godha through Totlani who was in touch with him and also knew Jain.
Totlani had surrendered on September 17 and was sent to police custody till September 20 which was later extended to September 23.
Totlani had earlier filed an anticipatory bail plea in the court which was dismissed on the ground that his custodial interrogation was required to unearth the entire conspiracy and to know about the trail of the alleged bribe.
CBI had earlier argued there was enough evidence to connect Totlani with the case and the intercepted conversation shows his role in the conspiracy.
S K Jain, CMD of Prakash Industries Limited Ved Prakash Agarwal, Bhushan Steel Ltd Vice Chairman and Managing Director Neeraj Singal, middle-man Vineet Godha and other accused were arrested by CBI in connection with the case.
Singal was arrested by CBI on August 7, hours after the court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him and Totlani. Except Totlani, the other arrested accused are currently in judicial custody.
They were apprehended in connection with two separate graft cases in which CBI had booked them under the Prevention of Corruption Act and for the charge of criminal conspiracy under the IPC.
On August 2, CBI had arrested some of the accused in connection with the case and claimed to have recovered ₹21 lakh in cash from Jain’s residence besides gold worth ₹1.68 crore and documents of fixed deposits of up to ₹63 lakh.
The agency has filed two cases against Jain, accusing him of receiving a bribe of ₹50 lakh through conduits and abusing his official position to enhance the credit limits of some companies in violation of laid-down procedures.