Anil Ambani: Court grants bail to ex SC court master Tapan Chakraborty

The Additional Sessions Judge at Patiala House Court today granted bail to former court master Tapan Chakraborty, who was arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch for allegedly tampering with a Supreme Court order in the Anil Ambani-Ericsson case..The bail has been granted in terms of Section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code..While granting bail to Chakraborty, Judge MK Nagpal recorded,.“…the applicant was arrested in this case on 07.04.2019 and he is in custody since then during this period, he has already been extensively interrogated as the period includes his police custody of 10 days. It has also been stated that the applicant stands already terminated from the services of the Hon’ble Supreme Court..Hence, in the opinion of this court, no purpose is being served by detaining the applicant into the custody further and therefore, he is released on bail on furnishing his personal bond in the sum of Rs. 50,000/ – with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the court…”.Chakraborty was represented by Advocates Rishi Malhotra, Sahil Munjal and Aditya Dogra. .In his bail application, Chakraborty had claimed that his role was only up to the level of verification of court proceedings by concerned Assistant Registrar (Court) and its subsequent uploading. Chakraborty, therefore, argued that he was being implicated in a false and fabricated case as he was not in a capacity to interfere or tamper with the records of the court..It was further argued that since the entire evidence in the case is documentary in nature, keeping the applicant behind bars would violate his fundamental rights. Chakraborty also pleaded his “unblemished service record of 34 years” and worsening medical condition as grounds for securing bail. The Court has also informed that Chakraborty had roots in society and was not likely to flee from justice..Tapan Chakraborty and another court official, Manav Sharma, were dismissed from the Supreme Court after Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi passed an administrative order finding them guilty of tampering with the January 7 order. On April 7, Chakraborty and Sharma were arrested by the Delhi Crime Branch for allegedly tampering with a January 7 Supreme Court order in Ericsson’s contempt plea against Anil Ambani..The two had been booked for the commission of offences under Sections 420, 467, and 468 read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana had earlier rejected Chakraborty’s bail plea on April 18. He was remanded to judicial custody on the same day after spending 10 days in police custody..Before the Court, Delhi Police had submitted that Chakraborty was in constant touch with a lawyer connected with the case around the time of the tampering..Read the order:.Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.