Decision on Gujarat cop’s bail plea Monday (Lead, superseding earlier story)

GANDHINAGAR - A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Thursday reserved till Monday its decision on the bail plea of former Ahmedabad deputy commissioner of police Abhay Chudasama, arrested in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shootout case.

Chudasama has sought three months bail to undergo surgery at a private hospital.

The CBI, which arrested him, had earlier opposed the interim bail plea in the court of the CBI judge G.K. Upadhayay on the grounds that Chudasama had tried to monitor their investigations in an unauthorised manner and also attempted to influence the key witnesses in the case.

It contended that investigations into the case were at a crucial stage and granting interim bail would hamper the probe.

The agency, however, Thursday agreed to the plea subject to certain conditions, including that Chudasama should be taken under a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) guard and not of the state police.

According to Chudasama’s application before the court, he had met with an accident in 1994 and had undergone a hip replacement surgery but medical reverses had necessitated surgical intervention again in 2000. He has since been advised to again undergo hip replacement surgery.