Rajeev Sharma, 61, was arrested on September 14 by the Delhi Police Special Cell
The Delhi High Court today granted bail to freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma, arrested in an espionage case under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking sensitive information to Chinese intelligence.
Justice Yogesh Khanna granted relief to Rajeev Sharma on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount, which shall be given by him within a week once the trial court resumes its normal functioning.
Rajeev Sharma had sought statutory bail on the ground that the chargesheet was not filed within 60 days of his arrest.
However, the trial court had held that in this case, the chargesheet can be filed within 90 days.
The high court set aside the magisterial court's order being "illegal" and said that in this case, the period for filing the chargesheet would be 60 days.
"The petitioner is thus entitled to default bail; the challan having not been filed within 60 days," Justice Khanna said.
Rajeev Sharma, 61, was arrested on September 14 by the Delhi Police Special Cell which has claimed that he was "found to be in possession of some defence-related classified documents".
It has claimed that the other two accused in the case were paying Rajeev Sharma large sums of money, routed through shell companies.
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