Supreme Court today granted bail to Congress leader Rasheed Masood who was disqualified from Rajya Sabha after being sentenced to four years imprisonment in a graft case.
The bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant enlarged 68-year-old leader on bail and asked him to furnish a personal and a surety bond of Rs two lakh each.
It also imposed restrictions on Masood and asked him not to leave Uttar Pradesh and Delhi without prior sanction of the Delhi High Court which has been hearing his appeal against conviction and award of jail term in the corruption case.
Masood was held guilty by the trial court in September 2013 of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool, as the Health Minister in the National Front government of 1990. The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 on him.
Earlier, the apex court had issued notice to the CBI on the plea of Masood who was denied bail by the High court.
Masood had become the first MP to lose his seat after the Supreme Court ruling on disqualification of convicted lawmakers.
The former Rajya Sabha member, in his plea filed through lawyer Archit, had sought bail on various grounds including that he was acutely diabetic and had to take insulin and other medicines several times a day besides other for his ailments.
He had challenged the High Court order which refused to grant him bail on November 14 last year during the pendency of his appeal against the conviction in the graft case.
"Without expressing any opinion on the merit of the case, lest it would adversely affect the final outcome of the appeal, needless to say the allegations against the appellant (Masood) are very serious in nature in as much as the genuine candidates were deprived of the medical seats because of the appellant in conspiracy with co-accused," the High Court had said.
