The city civil and session court on Thursday granted bail to Dr. Rehan Shahid, who along with data entry operator Shashikumar, had been arrested by the Central Crime Branch Police in connection with the alleged bed blocking scam. Last month, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and three MLAs stormed into the BBMP south zone war room and live streamed an expose alleging that beds were being blocked and sold to patients for money.
Dr. Rehan’s lawyer stated in the bail application that there was no evidence specific or otherwise against his client regarding blocking beds and money transactions. He was appointed on a contract basis and has no right to allocate beds or approve financial transactions.
Former Advocate General Ashok Harnahalli, who represented Dr Rehan, said that neither was any incriminating material recovered from the accused nor his role in the alleged scam established by the police. Though he is part of the war room, there are many senior officials who are in charge of the operations; he can not be held responsible, the defence argued.
Dr Rehan and Shashikumar will be released on Friday as bail formalities are pending.
