Title - Railway official gets bail as CBI fails to file chargesheet in time

PUNE: The court of special judge SudhakarYarlagadda on Friday granted bail to a Railways' chief loco inspector, arrested for allegedly falsifying records to siphon off high-speed diesel worth Rs 10 crore, as the CBI, Pune, failed to file a chargesheet against him within 90 days of his arrest.Yarlagadda has sought an explanation from the investigating officer in this regard within one week as to why he did not file the chargesheet within the stipulated time.Virsingh Chaudhary, the chief loco inspector of the Daund railway consumer depot, is a resident of Janata Colony in Daund. The Bombay high court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea on April 2. He was arrested after he surrendered before the CBI on April 25.According to the prosecution, Chaudhary misused his position to falsify documents with the help of senior officials and pilfer 20.33 lakh litre of high-speed diesel. The case against them was registered on February 20.

Quoting section 167 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, Chaudhary's lawyer Suhas Kolhe told the court the accused had a right to seek bail if the CBI failed to file a chargesheet in time against him within 90 days of his arrest.

Special public prosecutor Vivek Saxena said the chargesheet could not be filed on time because the investigations in the case were spread all over the country. He said the railway consumer depot had supplied diesel to more then 25 loco sheds in the country and the investigating officer had so far seized 28 registers containing 33,000 entries to determine the fraud committed by the suspects between April 2011 and August 2012.

The investigating officer is also in the process of recording statements of loco inspectors posted at all loco sheds in the country. The impact of the offence is so widespread that it was not possible for the CBI to file a chargesheet within 90 days of the arrest, Saxena said.

After hearing both sides, Yarlagadda ordered that Chaudhary be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 25,000 with solvent surety of the like amount. Chaudhary was warned not to influence the prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence. He was directed to cooperate with the CBI whenever he was called in for questioning.