M A I N   N E W S

Badal case adjourned till Jan 17
Regular bail for Surinder Kaur
Our Correspondent

Ropar, December 13
A former Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, his son, Mr Sukhbir Badal, wife, Mrs Surinder Kaur Badal, and Mr Narottam Singh today presented themselves before the Special Court here in the disproportionate assets case registered against them by the Punjab Vigilance.

Mr Parkash Singh Badal along with the other accused reached the court complex at about 10 am today. The District and Sessions Judge, Ropar, was on leave. The Special Judge Ropar, Mr SK Goel, was also on short leave for two hours. The counsel of Mr Badal, however, insisted on an early hearing following which the Special Judge, Ropar, came to the court cancelling his short leave.

As the proceedings began, the counsel of Mrs Badal, as per the orders issued yesterday, produced two sureties of Rs 10 lakh each for her regular bail. Two SAD workers from the district, Mr Gurmit Singh, a resident of Behrampur village, and Mr Darshan Singh, a resident of Bharkhali village, produced the sureties for the bail of Mrs Badal after which she was granted regular bail.

The counsel of Mrs Badal also moved an application for granting her exemption from personal appearance in the court. A notice was moved to the state on the application of Mrs Badal and hearing on the application was fixed for December 18.

Mrs Badal, who appeared in the court for the first time, appeared relaxed as the anticipatory bail had already been granted.

Now that the Badals are out on bail, it was the turn of their counsel to seek deferment of the case for long periods. The counsel, who were till now quoting the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 in the court demanding day-to-day hearing on the bail application of the Badals, today just demanding a copy of the challan for Mrs Badal.

Thereafter, they demanding time for scrutinising the documents attached with the challan. On this, the Special Judge, Ropar, fixed January 17 as the next date for hearing in the case.

Today also, many Akali workers from the district gathered here to greet their leaders. The police, however, stopped them from reaching the judicial court complex.

A former Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, a former President of the SGPC, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar and a former minister and the MLA from Chamkaur Sahib, Bibi Satwant Kaur Sandhu, were among the SAD leaders who accompanied Mr Parkash Singh Badal in the court complex.

According to a UNI report, the Special Court, on Saturday also listed for hearing the bail applications of two co-accused in the case of disproportionate assets and corruption against former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for December 15.

The two included the Badals’ conduit Mr Jagnandan Singh, and Mr Harbans Lal, manager at the Killianwali petrol pump owned by the Badals.

Besides these two, the court had yesterday listed the regular bail applications of five others for hearing on the same day, that is, December 15.

They are Mr Gurpinder Singh Grewal, director of the Sarai Group of Companies reportedly owned by Rajya Sabha MP Sukhbir Badal’s father-in-law Satyajit Singh Majithia, a Chandigarh police Sub-Inspector and former Punjab police SHO Nirabhjeet Singh alias Nibhy Dhanoa, who is believed to be a close aide of Mr Sukhbir Badal, and three residents of Muktsar district.