B.K.
B.K. Bansal, former director-general, corporate affairs, on Wednesday attended the last rites of his wife and daughter, who allegedly committed suicide a day earlier, after a special court granted him two-day interim bail.
Autopsy of the two women, Satyabala (58) and her daughter Neha (28), could not be conducted on Tuesday as no one from the family was available to identify and claim the bodies. Mr Bansal was in police custody and his son, Yogesh, was untraceable after the incident.
Bansals’ neighbours claimed that Yogesh had turned up to attend the last rites of his mother and sister. The police, however, could not verify their claims. Yogesh went missing after his father’s arrest and his mobiles were switched off. His neighbours suspected that he too was detained by the CBI, which denied the speculation and declared him “untraceable.”
Mr Bansal was given bail as the CBI said it had no objection to the interim bail on “humanitarian grounds.” However, the court observed that the CBI needed to “rethink” whether it was necessary to arrest suspects in such cases. “It’s time for the agency to rethink whether its necessary to arrest accused in such cases. These are not conventional crimes like murder. Earlier, the CBI used to not arrest in such cases. It’s only after the movements like that of Anna Hazare and some others that arrests are being made in these cases. They are public servants and the evidence is mostly documentary in nature in such cases,” special CBI judge Gurdeep Singh said.
“The accused/applicant (Bansal), who is in police custody remand till July 22, is admitted to interim bail till July 22 on his executing personal bond in the sum of Rs 50,000 along with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of this court.”
Advocate Umakant Kataria, who appeared for 59-year-old Bansal, submitted that there was nobody in his family to look after and perform the last rites of his wife and daughter.
“The applicant (Bansal) himself is under shock and his only son is grief stricken and has been stunned to the extent that he is not able to attend the people and is sitting like a statue.”
