Court tells PNB scam accused to amend bail plea

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked Vipul Ambani, an accused in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, to amend his bail application, and has kept the hearing on July 5. Mr Ambani alleged that he was illegally detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before arrest, and therefore, his arrest was illegal.

A single bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari was hearing Mr Ambani’s bail application. His counsel Amit Desai argued that Mr Ambani’s arrest was illegal. On February 19, he had been called for an inquiry at the CBI office in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) but at around 8pm on February 20, he was shown arrested, and the very next day, he was produced before the court and his custody was taken. Advocate Desai argued that as per the law, the investigation agency had to produce the accused before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours but the CBI failed to abide by the same. The CBI argued that Mr Ambani was called on February 19 but was sent home the same day, and that there was an entry in the CBI office register to that effect.

 Advocate Desai argued that Mr Ambani never came out of the CBI office and that his mobile phone was also seized. Further, the court found that there were some Supreme Court judgments attached to the petition which were nowhere concerned with the bail plea. The court asked advocate Desai to remove them and amend the petition, and kept the hearing after four weeks.