Three more arrested in kickbacks case

It needs to be mentioned here that the said FIR was registered here on March 16 by the Vigilance Department after an official inquiry into a complaint regarding highly inflated tenders being accepted by UT Engineering Department was lodged by contractor Jagdish Singh Sawhney with the Home Secretary. Others mentioned in the FIR are contractor Yashpal Saggi, Jagdish Mittar and Sadhu Singh.

Police remand of the alleged accused was sought on the grounds that documents on the basis of which highly inflated estimates were prepared were to be recovered from them.

The request was opposed on grounds that the accused did not have access to the documents which the prosecution was wanting to recover and that only those currently in charge in the department could help in that kind of a recovery.

Prosecution today sought judicial remand for K.K. Jerath, who was present in the court.

It may be recalled that Jerath had argued his case in the court yesterday and had stated that the tender of Sawhney was rejected because he had changed specifications of cable from those which had been advertised by the department. He had stated that as per the PWD code, once a tender has been invited with certain specifications, the same can8217;t be altered at the time of acceptance. This, he had said, was strictly the reason behind rejection of Sawhney8217;s tender. Another interesting point raised by Jerath8217;s counsel yesterday was that as per the High Court order, he could apply for his bail three months after the hearing on it was held on March 22. The period was to expire on June 22 and it was just few days before that limit that Jerath was arrested in another case which was registered way back on March 16.