Businessman Abhishek Verma was today granted bail by a Delhi court in a forgery case,lodged against him by the CBI for allegedly forging Union minister Ajay Maken's letterhead to write to the Prime Minister to seek relaxation of visa norms for a foreign firm executives. Verma was granted bail by Special Judge Sanjeev Jain after the CBI failed to file its charge sheet in the forgery case within the statutorily stipulated 60 days period. Verma was also granted bail on similar grounds earlier in a corruption case,lodged against him and his Romanian wife Anca Maria Neascu,for allegdly receiving USD 5,30,000 from Rheinmetall Air Defence AG for using their influence to stall the firm's blacklisting by the government here. Verma and his Romanian wife Anca Maria Neascu,who was granted bail in the case earlier,however,would remain in jail as they are yet to secure bail in two separate cases lodged by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate respecrtively. "Both the accused (Verma and Anca) were arrested on August 8,2012 for offences punishable upto maximum seven years. The 60 days period is maximum for completion of investigation which has already passed but the charge sheet is not filed. "..Abhishek Verma is granted bail on a personal bond of Rs five lakh and two sureties of like amount," said the judge. The court,however,extended the judicial custody of both Verma and his wife in the case till October 20 as they had not yet furnished the bail bonds. During the hearing,the CBI moved an application for extension of judicial custody of both the accused saying the probe pertaining to the foreign countries is likely to take time. The judge,after hearing the submissions of the CBI's investigating officer (IO),granted bail to Verma and also imposed several conditions on him. During the proceeding,Verma also filed an application in the court seeking separate vehicle for ferrying him to and from jail claiming that he is receiving extortion threats from some prison inmates. The court asked the CBI to respond to his plea on October 17. During the day,Verma and his wife were also produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Gautam Manan in connection with the money laundering case lodged by ED against them and the court extended their judicial custody till October 20 in that case. The couple is now under arrest in the case of the violation of Official Secrets Act,lodged by the CBI and the money laundering case registered by the ED against them. The ED had registered a money laundering case against them for allegedly receiving money from a Swiss arms-dealing firm to keep it out of the Indian government's blacklist. They were arrested on August 22 by the ED after they had moved an application to surrender in the money laundering case. Both the accused had been earlier granted bail on August 8 in the corruption case,in which they were arrested on June 8. The CBI,however,had arrested them in the court itself on August 8 in the forgery case registered on Maken's complaint. Anca was later granted bail in this case.
