Highlights of court order denying Behura bail (to go with 2G: Former telecom secretary Behura’s bail plea dismissed – Second Lead)

New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Friday rejected the bail application of former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, an accused in the second generation (2G) spectrum allocation case. Following are the highlights of Justice V.K. Shali’s order and the proceedings of the day:

** The petitioner cannot claim the benefit of parity with the other co-accused persons merely without any application of mind by the court in as much as the role of Behura as a ‘public servant’ was expected to different than the other accused persons.

**A public servant was under a greater obligation to discharge his functions as a holder of public trust with transparency, probity and to watch the interests of the public exchequer, which he failed to do.

**The allegations against the petitioner and the nature of evidence, which has been gathered against him, is very serious and if proved, it will entail life imprisonment for an offence under section 409 IPC (breach of trust by a public servant).

**That, no doubt, merely because doctrine of presumption of innocence is in favour of the petitioner and grant of bail is the rule and the denial being an exception, it cannot be said said that Behura’s role in the entire gamut of facts can be overlooked, keeping in view the severity of charges, and the quantum of punishment so as to defeat the larger public interest.

**Admittedly, this is a case, where it impinges the personal liberty of the petitioner but it has been taken away with due process of law.

**There is no threat of the petitioner fleeing from the process of law but certainly there is a reasonable apprehension or likelihood of Behura influencing the witnesses especially of the department of telecommunication, as he has been a member of an elite bureaucracy for such a long time that their influence is of a pervasive, even though he may not be a high profile accused.

**Behura was one of the main perpetrators of the entire commission of offence, along with former telecom minister (A. Raja) and his private secretary R.K. Chandolia, being the ‘public servant’ and, therefore, constituting the core of the conspiracy, who have to dealt with differently in comparison to the other accused persons.

**Behura’s wife has been suffering from a dreaded disease but it is not of such a nature, at this stage, which would immediately move the court to release the petitioner on interim bail even at this stage because she seems to have already undergone the surgical intervention or presently, she is taking the chemotherapy treatment.

**I do not agree with Behura’s counsel that simply on the ground of parity, either of the apex Court or that of the order passed by this court, the petitioner deserves to be extended the benefit of bail automatically. If that be the intention of the apex court, then the apex court would have made an observation in this regard and this court would have, had no difficulty in granting bail to the present petitioner.

**I feel that merely on the principle of parity, the petitioner in not entitled to the grant of bail.

**No doubt, the present petitioner (Behura), along with sixteen others, has been charged in common criminal conspiracy to commit the offence of breach of trust, cheating, forging and document and using forged document as genuine, etc, but Behura has been separately and substantively charged along with Raja for offence under section 409 for breach of trust by a ‘public servant’ read with section 120B and alternatively under section 420 for cheating read with section 120B IPC along with principal accused (Raja).

**If Raja can be said to be kingpin or a pivot of the alleged conspiracy to commit the offence of breach of trust and cheating, then certainly the role of Behura and Chandolia, the other co-accused, has been that of a propeller of giving effect to the said idea of committing the offence of breach of trust or cheating as far as the allocation of 2G spectrum or Unified Access Services is concerned.

**Prima facie, there is ample evidence, in this regard, that the three persons namely Raja, Behura and Chandolia have been the core of the conspiracy in implementation of the policy of first come and first basis in a distorted manner so as to cause benefit to specific parties.

**Behura may not have gained out of the entire transaction but he has certainly caused a wrongful loss to the public exchequer and if one goes by the allegation in the charges then this wrongful loss to the exchequer is allegedly to the tune of Rs.7,105 crore though that figure is also debatable regarding the actual loss having been suffered by the exchequer.