Syndicate Bank bribery case:Court reserves order on CBI's plea

A special court today reserved its order till September 23 on CBI's plea seeking voice sample of five accused, including suspended Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Syndicate Bank S K Jain and CMD of Prakash Industries Ltd Ved Prakash Agarwal, in a bribery case.
Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma fixed September 23 for pronouncing the order on CBI's application, which was opposed by the five accused.
Besides Jain and Agarwal, CBI has sought voice specimen of Bhushan Steel Limited Vice Chairman and Managing Director Neeraj Singal, Vineet Godha and Puneet Godha.
Agarwal had earlier opposed the agency's plea contending that he was "apprehending manipulation" by CBI to implicate him in the case.

The court had asked the five accused to file their response on CBI's plea in which the agency had said the case was based on intercepted telephonic conversations and specimen voice samples of these accused was required for its probe.
These accused, along with others, are in judicial custody till September 24.

The court has kept pending another application of CBI seeking passwords of mobile phones of certain accused in the case.
The accused were arrested in connection with two separate graft cases in which CBI had booked them under the Prevention of Corruption Act and for the charge of criminal conspiracy.

On August 2, CBI had arrested six accused in connection with the case and claimed to have recovered Rs 21 lakh in cash from Jain's residence besides gold worth Rs 1.68 crore and documents of fixed deposits of up to Rs 63 lakh.
The agency has filed two cases against Jain, accusing him of receiving a bribe of Rs 50 lakh through conduits and abusing his official position to enhance the credit limits of some companies in violation of laid-down procedures.