BENGALURU: A special court designated to hear cases investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has rejected the bail pleas of suspended Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) chairman Shivashankarappa Sahukar and alleged middleman Basavaraj Kannale in connection with the veterinary doctors’ recruitment scam.However, the court granted conditional bail to KPSC member BV Geetha, citing her status as a woman.The ED had arrested Sahukar and Geetha on October 6, while Kannale was arrested on September 18.Kannale was already in judicial custody following his arrest by the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on August 30. Another prime suspect, IAS officer Gyanendra Kumar Gangwar, had his bail petition rejected last month.All the accused are lodged in judicial custody at Bengaluru Central Prison.Arguing for Geetha, her counsel BS Prasad sought special consideration for his 46-year-old client, citing her gender, health issues and the fact that she was a grandmother.Opposing the bail plea, the public prosecutor argued that Geetha was “not a scapegoat” and maintained that she was fully aware of her actions.The agency also pointed out that Geetha, a non-practising advocate, had earlier served as a prosecutor for the state Lokayukta, an anti-corruption agency.“The right to grant bail to a woman or the other class of individuals as mentioned under the first proviso of Prevention of Money Laundering Act is purely based on the discretionary power of the special court, as said first proviso clearly confers a discretion on the court to grant bail, where the accused is a woman or sick or infirm. No doubt, at this stage, the ED has made out a prima facie case against the petitioner herein pointing towards her guilt under PMLA. The petitioner (Geetha) is in judicial custody since Oct 19, apart from ED custody of 14 days. Thus, she has spent nearly a month in jail. Considering her age, status of being woman, this court inclined to grant her bail,” the order copy read.The court also directed Geetha not to leave the country without its prior permission, tamper with prosecution evidence or threaten prosecution witnesses.
