Punjab, August 17: A local CBI court has granted anticipatory bail to Punjab Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon on Tuesday.
CBI had filed a charge sheet against him for his alleged involvement in large scale irregularities in recruitment of 909 panchayat secretaries in Rural Development Panchayat department of Punjab government when he was minister in charge of the department during SAD-BJP government’s previous tenure from1997 to 2002.
Special CBI Judge Balbir Singh granted bail to Kahlon who appeared in the court after Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted him interim protection from arrest in the case on Monday.
Justice MMS Bedi of the High court directed Kahlon to appear before the special CBI Judge. The CBI court granted bail to Kahlon on his furnishing bail bond of Rs 50,000 and adjourned the case to August 26.
A special court in Patiala had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Kahlon on technical grounds last week in connection with the case registered against him and 13 others
for alleged irregularities in selection of panchayat secretaries during 1997-2002.
The bail application had been rejected by Special Judge of CBI court Balbir Singh who, in his order, had said the petition for anticipatory bail was not maintainable in his
court where the charge sheet against Kahlon and 13 others was filed by CBI on July 9 in connection with the case.
—Agencies