The Delhi High Court Tuesday granted three months’ interim bail on medical grounds to disqualified Rajya Sabha member Rasheed Masood, who is serving four years’ imprisonment in a case of corruption and other offences.
Justice J.R. Midha also granted three months’ bail to former Indian Police Service officer Gurdayal Singh on similar grounds.
Both got bail on personal bonds of Rs.50,000 each.
Masood also challenged the trial court’s verdict convicting him and sentencing him to a four-year jail term.
The court had earlier asked the jail superintendent to file the medical records of the accused after Masood’s lawyer told the court that his client is a heart patient and is also a diabetic.
“He has to take 15-18 medicines in a day and four insulin injections,” the lawyer said.
It was argued that Masood has been facing trial in the case for the last 17 years and during that time he remained on bail and never disobeyed the bail conditions.
On Sep 19, Massod, 66, was held guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates from across the country to the MBBS seats allotted to Tripura medical colleges from the central pool.
On Oct 1, he was awarded four-year jail term and he has been lodged in jail since then.
He became the first member of parliament to lose his seat after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.
Masood was found guilty of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery). However, he has been acquitted of the charge of using as genuine a forged document under Section 471 IPC.
Masood was health minister in the 11-month V.P.Singh government between 1990 and 1991.
The CBI had alleged that some candidates got their names nominated for MBBS seats for academic session 1990-91 from then resident commissioner Gurdayal Singh, an IPS officer of Gujarat cadre who was on deputation to government of Tripura.
–IANS