HC reserves order on Ratul Puri's bail cancellation

The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved its order on the petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking cancellation of bail granted to businessman Ratul Puri in the AgustaWestland deal case.

ED's counsel told Justice Suresh Kumar Kait that if Puri remains out on bail, he may tamper with evidence or influence witnesses. The ED also told the court that the lower court has not appreciated all the documents put on record while granting bail to the businessman.

However, Puri's counsel said that chargesheet has been filed in the case and that he opposed the ED plea seeking cancellation of the bail plea. The counsel also told the court that a number of accused are abroad and that no one has appeared till now.

Meanwhile, in a separate matter, a Delhi court granted bail to Puri and directed him to furnish a bail bond of Rs 5 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

Puri was represented by Advocates Vijay Aggarwal and Mudit Jain while the ED was represented by Special Public Prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta.

The said case emerged from a CBI FIR of August 17, where Ratul Puri, his father Deepak Puri, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's sister and Puri's mother Nita Puri and others were booked in connection with a Rs 354 crore bank fraud case filed by the Central Bank of India.IANS