Bail bonds ready before hearing

The court fixed July 28 as the date for their appearance following the orders of Justice Y.R. Tripathi of the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court on July 6, 2005. Charges are likely to be framed against the BJP and VHP leaders, given that all eight accused are present.

Local BJP leaders, however, have left nothing to chance — they have mobilised supporters to file 16 bail bonds, two for each leader. When The Indian Express visited the Rae Bareli district court (the special CBI court is located in the campus) on Wednesday, the bail bonds were being given finishing touches.

Those who have agreed to give their surety include Jai Talreja, Laxmi Shankar Srivastava, Ajit Prakash, Sudhir Chand, Shri Shankar, Badri Prasad, Chandra Prakash, RB Singh, Budhiraja, Sunil Mishra, Dilip Yadav, Gairul Hasan Rizvi (former state president of BJP’s minority cell), Dilip Yadav and Mohammad Aziz.

Said Vimal Kumar Srivastava, counsel for the accused, ‘‘although all the eight leaders are on bail and it is expected that charges would be framed tomorrow, we don’t know what will be the CBI’s next move and neither can the court order be foreseen. The bail bonds were being kept in readiness for any emergent situation which may arise.’’

Advani is also set to attend a party reception after the hearing. ‘‘Around 100 buses have been pressed into service to bring party workers from across Rae Bareli district. Up to 8,000 workers will converge for the meeting,’’ local BJP unit chief Anil Mishra said.