CHANDIGARH, April 30: Alleged middlemen in the UT Engineering Department kickbacks case, Suresh Kumar Sharma and Dinesh Sharma, were further remanded to police custody till May 3 by UT Judicial Magistrate (Ist Class) Jasbir Singh, here today. They had surrendered before the court on April 27.The third middleman, Sunil Kalia, was also remanded to police custody till the same date. He had earlier been remanded to judicial custody for two days after he had surrendered before the court on April 28.An application seeking police remand for Kalia on as many as six grounds was moved by the prosecution today. Arguing before the court, Assistant District Attorney P. K. Kundra, contended that the accused was required for decoding the initials mentioned in the diaries. The mode of payment also had to be looked into. Moreover, his link with the prime accused, former chief engineer K. K. Jerath along with the firms supplying orders, had to be established.Seeking further remand for the Sharma brothers, he stated that the diaries had been decodified, but the accused were required for getting Jerath arrested. He further stated that proclamation for declaring them proclaimed offenders had already been issued and they had been evading arrest ever since their residence had been raided.Opposing the plea for police remand, the defence counsel contended that no recovery was to be made. He added that the diaries were not admissible as evidence in the light of the Supreme Court judgment in L. K. Advani case. Moreover, none of the firms had stated that money was given to the accused for passing on to the former chief engineer.Till now, six persons - including three officials of the Engineering Department - have been arrested in the kickbacks case. Of the officials, only A.K. Sachdeva, a superintending engineer, has been granted bail. The other two - J.K. Gandhi, a junior engineer and R.P. Vashista, the private assistant to Jerath, are still in judicial custody.
