Sree's friend Abhishek Shukla gets bail, plea for JC rejected

Abhishek Shukla working as a manager in a private firm was granted bail by the court on a personal bond of Rs 25000 and a surety of the like amount He was directed to surrender his passport not to leave his residence in Mumbai and join the probe Chief Metropolitan Magistrate CMM Lokesh Kumar Sharma rejected the prosecution39s plea to remand him to judicial custody as it was of the view that police has failed to convince that Shukla was a part of the IPL spotfixing scandal Shukla39s counsel Ankur Jain moved a bail plea saying he was not a part of the conspiracy He is the first person who has been granted bail in the spot fixing case S Sreesanth Pic AFP The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Shukla yesterday He is accused of removing money from Sreesanth39s hotel room in Mumbai immediately after his arrest on behalf of coaccused Jiju Janardhan The court also asked the police to explain how Shukla was taken to Mumbai yesterday without its permission To this the prosecutor said Shukla was taken out of Delhi as there were certain compelling circumstances and recoveries had to be made During the hearing the police said Shukla used to pay bills of Sreesanth and accompanied him to stations where he played matches and Rs 55 lakh removed from Sreesanth39s room has been recovered from him The court however said quotPaying bills on other person39s behalf or accompanying them to stations is not a criminal act in the statute No criminal liability can be fastened to himquot The CMM also said at the most Shukla can be booked for removal or destruction of evidence The prosecution opposed Shukla39s bail plea saying in the light of his conduct of removing articles from Sreesanth39s room after his arrest he should not be granted bail The court however said quotSince the offence itself is bailable the conspiracy to commit the offence would also be bailablequot The court also noted that it is on record that Shukla had joined the investigation for a day prior to his arrest and therefore there was no use of sending him behind bars as he is ready to cooperate with the investigation During the arguments public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said quotShukla was the abettor and perpetrator of the main offence for which other accused have been booked ie section 420 cheating 120B criminal conspiracy and 409 criminal breach of trust of the IPCquot The prosecutor said Shukla used to accompany Sreesanth and Jiju and pay the cricketer39s hotel bills He said Shukla had also joined the train of conspiracy when he was asked by Jiju to clear Sreesanth39s room To this the judge asked the police to show how his acts of accompanying them to various places and paying the bills points that Shukla was aware of the conspiracy The prosecutor replied that the police has also recorded Shukla39s telephonic conversation in which he was asked to clean Sreesanth39s room He said even if he was not aware of the conspiracy he had joined the train of conspiracy and is equally liable to be prosecuted under sections 420 120B of the IPC The court however was not impressed with the arguments of the prosecutor quotFrom the facts present before this court it becomes amply clear that the role assigned to accused was removal of cash and other articles from Sreesanth39s room after his arrest at the instance of Jiju Janardhan who had called him to Sreesanth39s room and handed him several articles for purpose of their removalquot the judge noted Yesterday the court had pulled up the police for its flip flop in the handling of case and hiding the arrest of Shukla and termed it as a quotbad practicequot The court was annoyed that Shukla was taken to Mumbai in connection with the probe without taking its permission Police had not disclosed the arrest of Shukla and it was only revealed when the judge put some questions to them Shukla had joined the probe on the intervening night of May 27 and 28 but he was not arrested However after he was allowed to leave the police station at 7 PM on May 28 the police arrested him at 11 AM yesterdayu00a0