A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday granted bail to all accused pertaining to the alleged forging of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (ICTRC) software and selling Tatkal tickets in the black market.
CBI had arrested them for allegedly developing illicit software to subvert the Railways Tatkal reservation system, allowing hundreds of tickets to be booked in one go.
CBI Special Judge Shailander Mallik today granted bail to all accused in the matter after the appearance of them following summons issued by the court earlier concerning offences under Section 420, 468, 471 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 66D Information Technology (IT) Act were added.
The court granted bail to all the accused persons on a bail bond of Rs 50,000 each.
In the said matter, there is a total of 11 accused persons, out of them, accused Ajay Garg was represented by Advocate Rhythm Aggarwal and accused Vikas Goel was represented by Advocate Ayush Jindal.
Advocate Rhythm Aggarwal appearing for accused Ajay Garg, argued that the accused has been on bail for 3 years and has not violated any stringent condition imposed upon him, he has maintained impeccable conduct and his record is unblemished, only because new sections are added in the charge sheet does not mean that the accused should be deprived of his liberty.
Advocate Rhythm, further argued before the court that the said accused had already been granted bail in previous offences under Sections 120B IPC, 66 R/w 43 IT Act, 143 of Railway Act and Section 13(2) r/w 13 (1) (d) of PC Act. Subsequently, offences under Section 420, 468, 471 IPC and 66D IT Act were added.
The advocate argued that the offences alleged have been committed on the same occurrence and if the court was pleased to grant bail to the accused of previous alleged offences then the accused is also liable for grant of bail for the subsequent alleged offences.
Advocate Ayush Jindal also vehemently argued for another accused who has been freshly summoned and was not arrested pursuant to registration of FIR. It was further argued that there was no apprehension of the accused persons tampering with evidence as to the entire material in the case is documentary in nature and that the accused persons are permanent residents of New Delhi and have deep roots in the society here, and therefore, there was no question of the accused persons fleeing from justice.
The bail applications of the accused persons were strongly objected to by the respondent CBI.
In 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation had arrested an assistant programmer of the IRCTC itself, for allegedly selling illicit software to penetrate the 'tatkal' railway ticket reservation.
Accused earlier worked with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) where he learnt the vulnerabilities of the railway ticketing system.
( With inputs from ANI )
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