Gilhotra, Sharma8217;s bail plea to be heard today

CHANDIGARH, June 23: Former PSEB Chief Engineer J.C. Gilhotra and Superintending Engineer K.B. Sharma's anticipatory bail plea will come up ...

CHANDIGARH, June 23: Former PSEB Chief Engineer J.C. Gilhotra and Superintending Engineer K.B. Sharma8217;s anticipatory bail plea will come up for arguments before UT Additional District and Sessions Judge G.S. Sandhu on June 24 in the engineering department kickback case.

Executive Engineer Harsh Kumar8217;s plea for regular bail will, meanwhile, be taken up by UT Additional District and Sessions S.S. Lamba on July 2, in the same case.

The three were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the basis of diaries allegedly recovered from the residences of the alleged middlemen during raids by the Income Tax authorities in November.

While Harsh Kumar, along with Sub-Divisional Officer Gurpreet Singh, had surrendered before the UT Vigilance Cell on June 19, warrants of arrest against Gilhotra and Sharma are yet to be executed.

Today, seeking anticipatory bail for the two, the defence counsel stated that the accused were not named in the First Information Report FIR registered against former UT Chief Engineer K.K. Jerath.

The petitioners, stated the bail applications, were being falsely implicated in the case. Kickbacks were not paid to the petitioners, evident from the fact that according to the prosecution, Rs 43,35,800 were received by Jerath as illegal gratification out of Rs 44,07,100 passed on by the quot;middlemenquot; to the accused named in the FIR.

Evidence regarding certain organisations passing on money to them for getting the contracts was not there. Moreover, motive could not be ascribed to the petitioners as no work was assigned to the alleged middlemen, further stated the applications.

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No offence was made out against the accused as charges based on enteries in the diaries could not be converted into legal evidence. Further, no recovery was to be made from them, added the counsel.

During his 34 years in service, including his stint as Superintending Engineer Electricity in the Engineering Department, no show cause notice was issued to Gilhotra, nor was he ever charge-sheeted for any offence, further added the counsel.

Meanwhile, seeking Harsh Kumar8217;s release on bail, the defence counsel stated that the accused was being implicated in the case. The record was fabricated and his name was inserted in the diaries at a later stage.

Harsh Kumar, working with the Municipal Corporation, was not concerned with the alleged purchases as he was not even authorised to place the orders with the suppliers. The power to purchased was with superintending engineer of the Administration, it was added.