Two months after their arrest, Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. chairman T. Venkatram Reddy and his brother, Vinayak Ravi Reddy, who is also the vice-chairman of the company, were granted bail by a magistrate court in the case connected to the alleged duping of Canara Bank by the siblings by producing false and fabricated documents to secure a loan. They were asked to furnish sureties for Rs 5 lakh each.
Incidentally, Justice Durga Prasada Rao of Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday refused to grant regular bail to the brothers on the ground that it was not needed at this stage. The magistrate court granted statutory bail to them under Section 167 of Criminal Procedure Code as the CBI, which is probing the case, failed to file the charge-sheet within 60 days of the arrest for offences booked against them.
Venkatram Reddy and Vinayak Ravi Reddy were arrested on February 14 and the 60-day period lapsed on April 14. Hours after they were granted bail, the CBI filed the charge-sheet in the court but the counsel for the accused pleaded that the right of bail had already accrued to his clients.
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