By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Madurai: PDP leader CK Abdul Azeez was yesterday granted bail by the Madurai CBI Sessions Regular Court in a bank DD case. Azeez is expected to be released from jail today as per the conditional bail. The hearing on bail plea, submitted on September 17, was completed on October 1 itself and was postponed for judgement.
Azeez was bailed on condition that he presents himself and signs at the Madurai CBI Court daily at 10.30 am and that he provide two personal securities worth Rs 20,000. The court also directed that one of the persons standing in bail of Azeez should be from his hometown Pattikkad in Malappuram.
The bail plea was vehemently opposed by the Prosecution which argued that Azeez may go abroad if he is granted bail. The Public Prosecutors informed that the accused, who was absconding for ten years, was abroad for 724 days. In reply, Azeez’s lawyers said that the Prosecution’s argument was baseless as the Court had confiscated his documents including the passport and Identity Card. They also assured the court that Azeez would be present in the court during the trial. Adv S Shanavas from Kerala, and Thirumalai Rajan and Natarajan, leading lawyers of Tamil Nadu, appeared for Abdul Azeez.
The CBI arrested Abdul Azeez from Bengaluru on September 1 in a bank fraud case registered in 1993. Mr Azeez is accused of amassing around Rs 90 lakhs using the Demand Draft books stolen from the Ghatkopar East branch of the Bank of Maharashtra and the DN Road Branch of the Bank of India in Mumbai. The fraud was done with the cooperation of certain bank employees also. A case was registered in Maharashtra accusing nine persons including Azeez. CBI took over the case in 1994 and submitted chargesheet in 1998. Six accused including bank employees have completed their punishment in the case. Azeez and two men from Mumbai were declared absconding.
The CBI claimed that it couldn’t catch Azeez as he was hiding in Dubai, according to reports. A CBI official recognized him when he was being interviewed in an English news channel with regard to the Maudany case in August. The CBI team from Chennai then arrested Azeez from Bengaluru. He was then remanded on September 3 in the Madurai Central Jail.
However, Azeez and PDP leaders accuse that the sudden arrest in a case registered 14 years ago is a conspiracy. They accuse that the arrest was to weaken the proceedings in PDP chairman Abdunnasir Maudany’s case. Azeez was in the fore-front to lead the court-related matters related to the Maudany case and was in Bengaluru for a few months. They also disagree to the CBI version that Azeez was in hiding saying he was active in the Kerala public sphere being an active political leader.