Delhi court grants bail to five accused in excise case

The Rouse Avenue Court has granted interim bail to the five accused who were not arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during a probe in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

The Special Judge allowed bail to two former Excise Department officials including Gautam Mootha and Arun Pillai and businessman Sameer Mahendru.

Additionally, the court asked the CBI to file response on their regular bail plea and listed the case for next hearing. All the five accused were not arrested during the investigation, the court noted.

Earlier, the two accused Vijay Nair and Abhishek Boinpally were already granted bail by the same court. Recently the trial court while taking cognizance of the CBI chargesheet filed against a total of seven accused, had issued summons against all accused.

However, Sameer Mahendru, Vijay Nair and Abhishek Boinpally are to remain in judicial custody as they were also arrested by the ED in an excise money laundering case and their bail petition is pending before the trial court.