Judge: Courts at liberty to pardon
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The CBI court hearing the Emaar land scam case on Tuesday said it is a settled law that other accused persons need not be heard while granting pardon to one of the accused. The court made the observation after accused G.V. Vijay Raghav's counsel argued that the CBI did not arrest T. Ranga Rao by circumventing Section 306(4) of CrPC. The defence counsel contended this while opposing Mr Ranga Rao's pardon petition.
But CBI judge B. Naga Maruthi Sharma clarified that pardon could be granted either before or after the chargesheet is filed. Responding to an argument that the CBI court did not have the power to grant pardon in the absence of the relevant provision in Prevention of Corruption Act, Justice Sharma asserted that the court has such powers.
“What needs to be made clear is to what extent Mr Ranga Rao’s 164 statement (statement made under CrPC Section 164) would be useful to the prosecution,” the judge pointed out. Under Section 306 (4) of CrPC, once arrested, an accused granted pardon will continue to be behind bars till the trial is over. Defence counsel Dil Jit Singh Ahluwalia asked why the investigating agency was showing a special liking for Mr Ranga Rao, of Stylish Holmes, and why the CBI required his evidence when there was clinching evidence in the form of stat-ements made under Section 164 by many buyers of the contentious villa plots.
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