New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today extended the interim bail granted to former Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram in a 1993 telecom scam.
A bench headed by Justice P Sathasivam also extended the bail of two co-accused, former bureaucrat Runu Ghosh and Hyderabad-based businessman P Rama Rao.
The court said that it would take up the the appeals filed by all three challenging their conviction and sentence on August 7.
The Supreme Court had, on January 9, granted interim bail till today to the 86-year-old former minister, who had surrendered before a trial court to serve his three-year sentence in the scam case. It had also granted interim bail to Ms Ghosh and Mr Rao.
On December 21 last year, the Delhi High Court had upheld the lower court's 2002 judgement holding Sukh Ram, Ms Ghosh and Mr Rao guilty of being part of a criminal conspiracy to defraud the state exchequer by awarding a telecom equipment supply contract to Hyderabad-based Advanced Radio Masts (ARM). The firm, headed by Mr Rao, had been charged with supplying inferior goods at a higher rate to the Department of Telecom (DoT), where Ms Ghosh was posted as the Deputy Director-General.
Granting interim bail, the Supreme Court had also issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed the scam. The CBI, however, has not filed its reply. On a query from the bench today, Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha said that he was unaware whether the agency would file an appeal in the case or not. Mr Tankha said that he would take instructions from the agency.
The CBI had filed its chargesheet in March 1997, accusing Sukh Ram and Ms Ghosh of entering into a criminal conspiracy with Mr Rao.
After the registration of the case, the CBI, in 1996, had seized Rs. 3.6 crore in cash which was concealed in bags and suitcases from Sukh Ram's residence.
Sukh Ram was Telecom Minister between January 18, 1993 and May 16, 1996, in the then Narasimha Rao government.
(With inputs from PTI)