[Chhattisgarh coal allocation scam] Special CBI Court cancels bail of accused after he approached witness

A Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Tuesday cancelled the bail granted to Sanjeev Aggarwal, one of the accused in the 2017 Chhattisgarh coal allocation scam case, for approaching a witness. [CBI v. AES Chhattisgarh Energy Pvt Ltd].Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj noted that the accused violated the fundamental condition imposed on him for bail i.e. not to approach the prosecution witnesses in any manner. "Out of large number of cases, where the witnesses are threatened or won over, only a small number of such instances come to the notice of the court. Large number of prosecution fails due to hostile witnesses. Once, a clear-cut instance of attempt to approach the witness comes to the notice of the court, the court should not shy away from taking the strong step of cancelling the bail of such an accused," the judge said in his order. .The judge further observed that only the tip of the iceberg of such cases comes to the notice of the courts, as only in very few cases, witnesses inform the court about the attempts by the accused to approach them. "In such cases, no leniency is possible as it strikes at the roots of the criminal justice delivery system. While deciding such application, not only the hardship which the accused will undergo by loosing his liberty is to be considered, but the hardship which the society as a whole will undergo if such instances are ignored or are let off merely by giving warning or imposing fine is also to be taken into consideration by the court," Judge Bharadwaj stated. .The court was hearing an application filed by the CBI seeking to cancel the bail granted to Aggarwal on October 13, 2017. Aggarwal, the director of the firm AES Chhatisgarh Energy, was booked in the 2017 coal allocation scam case under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) by the CBI.The central agency highlighted the fact that on July 31 this year, the accused had phoned a witness, who was an employee of AES Chhattisgarh Energy. As per the witness, the accused had contacted him via phone and initially didn't disclose his identity. Aggarwal later revealed his identity and told the witness that persons from the company's US unit would want to discuss something with him. .After taking note of the incident, the court sought Aggarwal's response. He admitted to approaching the witness and furnished an "unconditional apology" to the court. .Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir appeared for the accused. Senior Advocate RS Cheema represented the CBI as a special public prosecutor.