Telgi case: Pradip Sawant granted bail

The Bombay high court on Friday granted bail to former Deputy Commissioner of Police Pradip Sawant who has been booked under MCOCA in the multi-crore Telgi fake stamp scam.

Justice D G Deshpande granted bail to Sawant on a sum of Rs 25,000 with a surety of like amount and has restricted him from moving out of city limits without the permission of the court.

Sawant's earlier bail plea was rejected by the special MCOCA court in Pune, while in the bail plea before the high court, the former DCP had said that since the investigations in the case were over and statements of all accused and witnesses have been recorded, he be granted bail.

The CBI, which has taken over probe of the Telgi scam, while opposing Sawant's plea, had stated that the probe was in a critical stage and more arrests were likely. In this situation if Sawant was granted bail, he may tamper with the evidence or try to influence the witnesses.