Jaitley CDR row: Court extends JC of 4, constable seeks bail

A court here today issued notice to Delhi Police seeking its response by tomorrow on a bail plea of a policeman arrested along with three others for allegedly illegally retrieving call details of BJP leader Arun Jaitley.

Constable Arvind Dabas moved his bail plea before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Amit Bansal who also extended the judicial custody of all the four accused till March 20 after the Special Cell of Delhi Police said their probe into the case was on.

"All the accused persons are remanded in judicial custody till March 20," the CMM said and extended the judicial custody of constable Dabas and three private detectives -- Anurag, who is alleged to be the main conspirator, Neeraj and Nitish.

During the hearing, advocate Naushad Ahmad Khan, appearing for Dabas, moved the bail application saying that the offences under which his client has been booked are bailable.

He also raised the issue of court's jurisdiction to adjudicate the case, saying CMM Vidya Prakash had earlier declined to hear the bail plea on the issue and that the same "controversy" is still not sorted out.

"On the basis of the FIR, bailable offence is there in it. No notice should be given (to police). Dabas is in judicial custody since February 20. Today again, there is controversy that whether this man (Dabas) will be sent to judicial custody. Issue of jurisdiction is also there," Khan said.

On this, the judge asked the investigating officer (IO) as to how he had produced the accused persons before him. The IO said he had enquired from CMM Prakash about it today and he was asked by the court at Tis Hazari to take the accused before the CMM at Patiala house Courts complex.

The jurisdictional issue had cropped up as the Delhi High Court has divided Delhi into 11 Metropolitan zones from March 1 this year and each zone will have a separate CMM.

Earlier, the city was divided into nine revenue districts and there was only one CMM who was dealing with the cases of Special Cell.