Sarpanch’s death: SC rejects Haryana MLA’s bail plea

New Delhi/Chandigarh, September 19
The Supreme Court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Haryana’s former Transport Minister Om Prakash Jain and directed him to surrender before the CBI court by September 23 in a case involving the death of a sarpanch.

Jain along with MLA Zile Ram Sharma is accused of abetting suicide of Karam Singh, sarpanch of Kambopura village in Karnal, on June 7, 2011. The order was passed by a three-member Bench headed by Justice HL Dattu. Jain had moved the apex court seeking protection against arrest by the CBI. Karam Singh was found dead a day after he lodged a complaint against Jain and Sharma for allegedly duping him of Rs 13 lakh on the promise of securing jobs.

A week later, the police recovered the body of Chamel Singh, a key witness in the case, under mysterious circumstances near the Karnal police station.

On August 13, the CBI court in Panchkula issued summons to Jain and Sharma directing them to appear in court on August 29. The CBI has already filed a charge-sheet in the case and sought permission to conduct a polygraph test on the two. The CBI had raided their premises at Panipat, Karnal, Chandigarh and Panchkula before seeking to question them. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had handed over the case to the CBI on the plea of Karam Singh’s son Rajinder Singh.

The two MLAs have contended that their arrest was not required in the case as the CBI had already filed the charge-sheet. The orders come less than a week after the high court asked the two MLAs to appear before the Panchkula special CBI court, while dismissing their anticipatory bail petitions.

The two had moved the high court against the rejection of their anticipatory bail plea and issuance of non-bailable warrants by the CBI special court.

Challenging the order, Sharma’s counsel had contended that the accused had been cooperating with the investigating agency.

In its charge-sheet filed on August 8, the CBI had maintained it was a case of suicide and accused Jain, Sharma and Jain’s personal assistant of abetting suicide. The three were charged by the agency under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC. Jain was one of the seven Independent MLAs who aided the Congress in forming the government in Haryana in 2009.