New Delhi: Tainted former judge Shameet Mukherjee was on September 5 granted regular bail by the Delhi High Court in the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) scam case after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did a sudden volte-face and requested the court to confirm his interim bail.

"The petitioner (Mukherjee) shall continue to be on bail pending final disposal of the case," Justice S K Agarwal, who twice "reserved" his order in the matter, said in his order after CBI counsel A K Dutt submitted that the agency "does not oppose grant of regular bail to the accused".

Surprisingly, Dutt had argued for several days for cancellation of the interim bail granted to the former judge. "We never opposed his bail on medical grounds," he submitted.

Dutt, who was asked to "clarify" if CBI would prefer to rely on additional written submissions in support of its plea for cancellation of Mukherjee's interim bail, told the court that the probe agency would not press for reliance on its synopsis.

"It means you are not opposing the bail application?" Justice Agarwal asked and Dutt anwered in the affirmative.

The court directed Mukherjee to furnish fresh bail bond and surety within two weeks in terms of the June 4 order when his interim bail was extended subject to the accused furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the same amount. Mukherjee's bail application was pending since June 4 and there were several hearings including a few in-camera ones.

The CBI had sought cancellation of the former judge's bail accusing him of trying to tamper with evidence and influencing a prosecution witness through two advocates thereby violating interim bail conditions imposed on him by the court.

PTI