A special court on Thursday dismissed an application of the Enforcement Directorate seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Rajiv Saxena, an approver in the VVIP chopper deal case.
The agency had sought the cancellation alleging that Mr. Saxena had failed to comply with the conditions of the order granting him pardon.
It alleged that after the grant of bail and tender of pardon, Mr. Saxena had “very strategically failed to disclose the full and true facts within his knowledge relating to the commission of offence and also did not cooperate during investigation”.
The ED submitted in the court that Mr. Saxena had failed to join the probe 25 times.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court said once the accused was granted pardon and made approver, the status of the accused changed from accused to witness/approver.
If the approver failed to comply with the conditions of order granting him pardon, it made the person liable to be tried as an accused subject to the conditions laid down in Section 308 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The provision mandates that an approver be examined in the court before revoking the pardon. The court said vide an order dated March 5, the ED’s plea for revoking the tender of pardon to Mr. Saxena was dismissed mainly on the ground that he had not been examined before the trial court and the application was premature.
