Vice-chairman of KC Group gets bail

Shimla, September 26

The HP High Court has granted bail to Hitesh Gandhi, vice-chairman of KC Group of Institutes, Nawanshahr and Pandoga (Una), who is allegedly involved in a scholarship scam.

Dua passed the order on a petition filed by Hitesh seeking bail. He was arrested by the CBI on January 3 for allegedly misappropriating scholarship amounts drawn from schemes meant for students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes to encourage and support them in post-matriculation studies.

While passing the order, Justice Dua said, “Even in cases involving economic offences, where there is strong prima facie evidence against the accused, it cannot be said as a matter of abstract principle that the bail should invariably be refused. It is impossible to hold that an accused should not be granted bail during the pendency of investigation. The detention of the petitioner, an under-trial prisoner, for an indefinite period would amount to the violation of Article 21 of the Constitution”.

However, the court has imposed stringent conditions on the petitioner and directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 1 crore with two local sureties, each in the amount of Rs 25 lakh to the satisfaction of the trial court/ Special Judge (CBI), Shimla.

As per the investigating agency, the petitioner is allegedly the ultimate beneficiary of the scholarship amount of Rs 11.33 crore, which has been claimed on the basis of false and forged documents in the KC Group of Institutions, Nawanshahr, and Rs 13.19 crore in its Una institute. — OC