Bandi Sanjay Kumar gets bail in Papergate

Hyderabad: Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who was arrested in a case related to class ten question paper leak, has been granted bail.

After marathon arguments which lasted over eight hours between the prosecution and the BJP counsel, Hanumakonda magistrate granted the bail. Sanjay would be released on Friday afternoon from Karimnagar jail.

The court directed Sanjay to cooperate with the investigations in the case and give two equal sureties of Rs 20,000, and not to leave the country. Hectic scenes were witnessed in the court with the lawyers from Sanjay seeking bail and the public prosecutors opposing the same. The arguments that lasted over nine hours were no less dramatic than the manner in which Sanjay was arrested and taken round the police stations till Wednesday night till he was produced before the magistrate and sent to remand.

The public prosecutors are said to have strongly opposed the bail since the investigation was still on and releasing the accused could influence the witnesses and tamper with evidence. It was further argued that there was a need to gather more evidence and technical data has to be gathered from his mobile phone. The public prosecutors argued on seven counts opposing the bail and also seeking custody.

Countering the prosecution's argument, the BJP legal team argued that the arrest was illegal and lacks of evidence to the charges slapped against him. They also cited instances where bail could be granted even while the custody petition is before the court. At one point after filing the counter, the public prosecutors sought to postpone the bail petition to Monday. However, opposing the same, Sanjay's lawyers insisted that the court either dispose of the petition or reject the same. They also showed some video clips of the manner in which Sanjay was arrested.

The BJP leader and workers broke into celebrations following the judgement. It may be mentioned here that the state party leadership has been keeping track of the proceedings since morning for the outcome. The State BJP wanted to secure the release of its state party chief to ensure that he would be present during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Hyderabad on April 8.