LTC scam: Former Rajya Sabha member gets bail

New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) A court here has granted bail to former Rajya Sabha member Brajesh Pathak of the Bahujan Samaj Party, in connection with a leave travel concession (LTC) case, sources said on Wednesday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna on Tuesday granted bail to Pathak and Delhi-based firm Vandna Travels Private Limited's director Rajesh Agnihotri.

Both of them appeared in court in pursuance of summons issued against them last month.

The court while granting bail said that both accused have roots in society and the trial would take a long time to conclude.

Both were directed to furnish a personal bond of Rs.50,000 each and a surety of like amount.

The court barred them from leaving the country without permission.

The court also directed them neither to tamper with evidence, nor to influence witnesses.

The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case January 2.

However, the investigating agency did not chargesheet Pathak, saying there was no evidence against him.

But the judge rejected the agency's submission and summoned him under various charges dealing with cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Pathak allegedly entered into criminal conspiracy in 2011-2013 with private people and wrongly claimed inflated reimbursement for eight companion tickets from the pay and accounts office at the Rajya Sabha secretariat to the tune of Rs.2,19,887.

The actual payment made against the said eight companion tickets was Rs.10,499, and accordingly the excess amount to the tune of Rs.2,09,338 was claimed from the government, it added.

Pathak's tenure as Rajya Sabha member ended on November 25, 2014.