HC rejects Shukla’s plea seeking time to surrender

Passing the order,a single-judge bench of Justice Vikram Nath said,“The present application appears to be only an exercise to seek time to avoid surrender. I am not inclined to enlarge the time to surrender. The application is accordingly rejected.”

CBI counsel Anurag Khanna said,“The applicant had filed the application seeking extension of time for surrendering before the court. We had opposed the application on the ground that after a petition is disposed of,the courts should take up review of the same only for typographical or clerical errors.” The court agreed with the CBI’s contention.

The court also noted that another bench of the high court had,on February 19,directed Shukla to surrender before the CBI court by March 19. The February 19 order was passed on Shukla’s plea — along with that of the other accused — to quash the chargesheet against him in one of the NRHM cases. Earlier,Shukla was already out on bail since August 8,2012.

Shukla had sought extension of time to surrender on the ground that he required special treatment and,for proper diagnosis,the investigation has to be carried out in multi-speciality hospitals. “The applicant had sufficient time to get the investigation carried out. Any extension of time will not be enough to get the investigation carried out,” the court said.