A local court on Tuesday granted bail to three urban development department (UDD) officers who had been in CBI custody since their arrest on May 5 in connection with a missing file in the Adarsh case.
The bail was granted as the CBI failed to charge sheet them within the stipulated period of 60 days. However, the trio may be released only after a few days, as certain formalities have to be completed.
“The charge sheet was not filed as the investigation is not over. Our main job of finding the missing papers or note file is not over,” said CBI joint director Rishiraj Singh.
The additional chief metropolitan magistrate granted the bail on a surety of Rs1 lakh each, while simultaneously asking the accused not to tamper with evidence or leave the country and to report to the CBI for questioning once a week.
The CBI had arrested Gurudatt Wajpe, UDD desk officer; NN Narvekar, assistant town planner; and Waman Rawool, the then clerk to the UDD’s principal secretary. While the trio was not present in court, their families were a relieved lot. Wajpe’s older brother, N Wajpe, a government servant from Nagpur, was present in court with his wife son. “We hope all the paper work is completed soon and I can take my brother home,” he said.
While seeking the trio’s remand in May, the CBI had stated that their custodial interrogation was necessary to find the truth behind the disappearance of the files from a locked cupboard. Deputy superintendent of the CBI, K Babu, had informed the court that over 40% of the investigation was carried out during the first remand and that it would complete the probe within two months.
However, even two months later, the CBI did not seem to make any headway.
