A Delhi court today fixed May 5 for hearing arguments on bail pleas of six accused, including four corporate executives and a journalist, arrested for their alleged roles in the Petroleum Ministry documents leak case.
Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kapoor, who was scheduled to hear arguments today, deferred the matter after the advocates appearing for the accused sought adjournment saying that lawyers' body is observing strike till May 2.
District courts lawyers in Delhi are observing strike till May 2 against the delay in tabling in Parliament an amended bill regarding enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction of trial courts.
Bail pleas of Shailesh Saxena of Reliance Industries Ltd, Vinay Kumar of Essar, Rishi Anand of Reliance ADAG, Cairns India's K K Nayak, journalist Shantanu Saikia and Virender are pending before the sessions court.
The court is scheduled to pass order tomorrow on the bail plea of co-accused Subhash Chandra, an official of Jubilant Energy who is lodged in jail.
The bail pleas of these five corporate executives were earlier dismissed by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM).
The CMM had on April 27 also dismissed the bail plea of Saikia, after which he has approached the sessions court.
Delhi Police had earlier told the court that offence committed in the case was covered under Official Secrets Act (OSA) and an inquiry on this aspect was underway.
The police had made this submission while opposing the bail plea of Subhash Chandra whose counsel had argued that the charge sheet filed in the case says that no secret documents were recovered from the possession of Chandra.
Crime Branch of Delhi Police has chargesheeted 13 arrested accused in the case.
