‘Col A K Singh gave over a lakh to friend’

The CBI-ACB told CBI special judge D R Mahajan that at Col Singh’s behest,a witness burnt some documents on June 23 when they had raided the NDA. “Those partially burnt papers have been recovered and CBI wants to decipher the matter written on them,” said CBI special prosecutor Vivek Saxena,while seeking Singh’s CBI custody for six more days. He added that the CBI needs to recover the Rs 1.5 lakh Singh allegedly paid to the retired army officer.

The CBI-ACB also seized a pen drive and Singh’s laptop on Tuesday. “The CBI wants to confront Singh with the data recovered from the them,” Saxena told the court.

Singh’s counsel,S K Jain,objected to the CBI’s demand of extension of Singh’s custody. The court denied CBI Singh’s custody and remanded him in magisterial custody till July 25. “For the purpose of recovery of Rs 1.5 lakh which the accused allegedly gave a witness who paid it to Symbiosis College towards fees,the further CBI custody of the accused is not required,” the court said. The court added that Singh’s custody was not required for confrontation of the accused with the data recovered from the pen drive and laptop.

Singh immediately tendered his bail application,which will be heard on Thursday along with that of the other four accused — Col Kulbir Singh,staff officer to NDA commandant,Balkrishna Kanojia,a food stall owner,Kanojia’s employee Vishnu Prasad Sharma and NDA employee Ramesh Gaikwad.

Lemons in court

The CBI-ACB officials on Wednesday morning found that Col A K Singh’s daughter had placed lemons with turmeric and vermilion on the court premises in Shivajinagar,apparently hoping that Singh’s CBI custody would end. A constable removed the lemons before the judge sat on the dais after lunch break. However,some lemons were still found on the first and ground floors. Singh’s daughter and wife were also seen chanting mantras through the court proceedings. While no official complaint has been lodged before the judge in this regard,court officials said judges can issue a warning to the persons for such an act.