Abhishek Verma, wife remanded to judicial custody till July 4

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Businessman Abhishek Verma and his Romanian wife, arrested for allegedly receiving money from a Swiss arms on promise that it will not be blacklisted by the Indian government, were on Thursday remanded to judicial custody till July 4 by a Delhi court.

Verma and his newly-wed Romanian wife Ancia Neascu, who were arrested by CBI on June 8, were produced before Special Judge Sanjeev Jain and the agency told the court that they should be sent to judicial custody as the probe in the case is still going on.

"The investigation officer (IO) has requested for judicial custody of both the accused as the investigation in the case is pending.

Both the accused are remanded to judicial custody till July 4," the judge said. The court also issued notice to the CBI for July 4 for its response on Ancia Neascu's bail plea.

After the court remanded both the accused to judicial custody, counsel for Ancia sought the court's permission to allow his client to take some articles, including cosmetics used for prevention from allergy, to the jail.

The court, however, refused to entertain the application and the counsel did not press for it. Regarding the defence counsel plea that home-cooked food be allowed to be provided to the accused in the jail, the court asked the prison authorities to consider the request as per the jail rules.

The couple was arrested by the CBI on June 8 after the agency registered a fresh case against them. In the new case, Verma has been accused of taking USD 530,000 from Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (RAD) for using his influence to stall the blacklisting proceedings initiated by the government against it after the Ordnance Factory Board scam had surfaced.

Abhishek Verma and his wife had earlier been questioned by the CBI sleuths regarding the transactions of funds between Ganton India and Ganton USA, which are said to be his front companies, and about his business relationships with estranged associate C. Edmon Allen who has levelled several allegations against him with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The CBI had also questioned the then directors of the Swiss defence company Mohinder Sahni and Arjun Arora whose houses were searched on Wednesday. The CBI booked Verma, his company and other unnamed persons under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, relating to giving bribe to influence public servants.
The offences carry a punishment of six months to five year in jail on conviction. Recently, Verma had moved a Delhi court accusing his former partner Allen of cheating him of Rs 55 crore and forging documents and emails to defame him.

Allen had filed the complaint with the CBI and other top officials accusing Verma of receiving funds from RAD for bailing it out.