By IANS
New Delhi : A Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, has granted bail to former Senior Superintendent of Banglore’s Central Prison Jaya Simha, who allegedly helped scammer Abdul Karim Telgi run his fake stamp racket from the jail, on grounds of slow pace of his trial.
The Karnataka High Court while dismissing former jail official’s bail plea in Aug 2006 had hoped that his trial would be over by Jan 2007.
And the Supreme Court itself, while rejecting Simha’s appeal against the high court’s Aug 2006 order, had asked him to approach the high court for bail, if his trial was not over by Jan 2007.
As the lower court failed to conclude Simha’s trial by Jan 2007, he approached the Karnataka High Court, which again rejected his bail plea in Feb 2007, saying that charges against him were serious and the trial itself would be over within another six to eight months.
The apex court bench, which also included Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice Tarun Chatterjee, granted Simha bail Friday on his second appeal, holding that, “Having regard to the nature of Simha’s involvement and the period already spent by him in Jail, his is fit case for grant of bail.”
Arrested in Dec 2003, with his subordinate Assistant Jail Superintendent Nanjappa, Simha has already spent over three years and nine months in jail.
Nanjappa was able to secure bail from the apex court April this year.
The two jail officials allegedly helped Telgi run his fake stamp paper racket from the jail by facilitating his use of mobile and also throwing a party for his accomplices.