The Hindu : National : Ashok Jain remanded to three-day judicial custody

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Saturday, Aug 13, 2005

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Ashok Jain remanded to three-day judicial custody

Special Correspondent

Charged under provisions of Indian Penal Code for breach of trust and cheating

HYDERABAD: Ashok Jain, Chief Adviser in the India Project of the German automaker Volkswagen, was produced in the Court of the 12th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at the Nampally Courts complex here on Friday evening and remanded to judicial custody for three days.

Mr. Jain was arrested earlier in the day in Gurgaon, Haryana, by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The investigating agency made out an application to the Magistrate seeking Mr. Jain's custody, but a decision was deferred. As the application was made just when the judge was leaving the court, he posted the case for Tuesday. Mr. Jain was later shifted to jail under heavy police escort. He has been charged under provisions of IPC for breach of trust and cheating.

Chennai Special Correspondent reports:

The CBI says it has collected "good documentary evidence" in the case.

Mr. Jain is alleged to have played an important role in the negotiations with the Andhra Pradesh Government for setting up the car project.

During the searches at the residence of Mr. Jain, the premises of two Directors of the Vasistha Wahan, Bhunesh Chaturvedi in Gurgaon and Jagdish Alagar Raja in Chennai, the CBI seized documents which it said had good evidentiary value.

The main job of the CBI is to trace the Rs.11.67 crores deposited by the Andhra Pradesh Government in Vasistha Wahan account in a Delhi bank and the role played by others in the scam.

Last week, the agency registered a case against officials of Vasistha Wahan a private firm and other unknown persons to whom the Andhra Pradesh government had released Rs. 11.7 crores (about two million euros) for a joint venture project for a car manufacturing plant.

The Volkswagen case set off a major political controversy in Andhra Pradesh, prompting the State Government to call for a CBI probe besides shifting Industries Minister B. Satyanarayana.

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