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Dismisses Petition Against Bail to Chitra Ramakrishna and Sanjay Pandey
In a significant ruling, the has dismissed the 's petitions challenging the regular bail granted to former Managing Director Chitra Ramakrishna and former IPS officer Sanjay Pandey in the phone tapping case. Justice Madhu Jain held that the Special Judge's orders granting bail were neither nor , and that the failed to demonstrate any ground for interference.
The Background: Unauthorised Interception Allegations
The case stems from allegations that between
and
,
was engaged by the
under work orders described as a
"Periodic Study of Cyber Vulnerabilities."
The
alleged that the actual work included unauthorised interception, recording, and examination of telephone calls of
employees. Sanjay Pandey, who founded iSEC and held a 50% shareholding, was accused of continuing to control the company even after formally resigning as a director in
. Chitra Ramakrishna, who served as Deputy Managing Director, Joint Managing Director, and Managing Director of
during the overlapping period, was alleged to have approved the engagement and directed which employees' calls should be monitored.
The registered its FIR on , invoking provisions of the , , , and . The followed with an ECIR on July 11, arresting both Ramakrishna and Pandey in . The subsequently arrested them in . On , the Special Judge granted regular bail to both accused, prompting the to move the High Court under .
's Challenge: Independent Assessment Sought
The argued that its proceedings were legally distinct from the 's money laundering case. The Special Judge, according to the , had improperly relied on a judgment of a coordinate bench of the that granted bail to Sanjay Pandey in the proceedings, without independently evaluating the material collected by the . The contended that the observations in the judgment could not be imported into its own case, especially since the was not a party to those proceedings.
The respondents countered that the Special Judge had considered the common factual foundation—the same -iSEC arrangement—and that the judgment's examination of the predicate offences was a relevant circumstance. They further argued that the had not pointed to any perversity or illegality in the bail orders, and that would require or , which were absent.
Legal Analysis: Distinguishing Challenge from Cancellation
Justice Madhu Jain meticulously distinguished between setting aside a bail order on grounds of perversity or illegality and cancelling bail due to subsequent misconduct. Relying on the 's decisions in , , , and , the court clarified that the present petitions fell in the former category. The court's task was limited to examining whether the Special Judge's was vitiated by , reliance on irrelevant considerations, or omission of relevant material.
The court found that the Special Judge had indeed recorded the 's objections, noted that the judgment arose from the same FIR and alleged criminal activity, and expressly considered the factual roles attributed to each respondent. In the case of Chitra Ramakrishna, the Special Judge specifically noted that she processed or approved the work orders while holding senior positions at between and , and that the arrangement allegedly caused a wrongful gain of ₹4.54 crores to iSEC.
Key Observations
The High Court made several crucial observations:
"The learned Special judge was entitled to take the judgment dated 08.12.2022 into consideration while deciding the applications for regular bail filed by the respondents in the 's case. Such reference did not, by itself, amount to an abdication of the concerned Judge's jurisdiction."
" has not identified any material circumstance, which placed before the learned Special judge, was omitted from consideration, nor has it demonstrated that the exercised was vitiated by perversity, illegality or reliance upon an ."
"A mere reiteration of the same objections in the present proceedings, without establishing any legally sustainable ground for interference with the grant of bail, cannot justify substitution of this Court's for that exercised by the learned Special judge. The objections are, accordingly, devoid of merit and are liable to be rejected."
The court also rejected the 's argument that the chargesheet filed one day after the bail orders warranted a fresh assessment, holding that the legality of the December 21 orders must be judged on the material available on that date. Subsequent additions or alterations in the chargesheet could not retrospectively render the bail orders .
The Verdict and Its Implications
The dismissed both petitions, upholding the regular bail granted to Chitra Ramakrishna and Sanjay Pandey. The court clarified that its observations were confined to the adjudication of the present petitions and that the trial court shall proceed uninfluenced by any observations in the bail orders, the judgment, or the present judgment.
The decision underscores that a bail order passed in proceedings arising from the same factual foundation can be a relevant circumstance for a Special Judge considering bail in the case. It also reinforces the principle that a superior court will not interfere with a grant of bail unless the lower court's is demonstrably or . The 's attempt to have the bail cancelled failed, and the accused remain on liberty pending trial.
