DA case: Court takes Chautala in custody as surety withdraws

Former Haryana Chief Minister OP Chautala, serving a 10-year jail term in a teachers’ scam, has been taken into custody in a disproportionate assets (DA) case, after a man sought to withdraw his surety bond furnished for the politician’s bail.

Special CBI Judge Sanjay Garg allowed the application of Surjit Singh, who had stood surety for 81-year-old Chautala at the time of his bail, saying that he does not wish to continue as his surety due to personal reasons.

The court ordered that Chautala, who was present in the court during the hearing, be taken into custody in this case.

“An application is moved by surety (Singh), seeking withdrawal of surety. As per the surety, due to personal reasons he does not want to continue as surety of accused (Chautala). The application is allowed and the accused is taken into custody. The surety bond stands discharged. The FDR of surety lying on the record is returned back to him,” the court said.

The court is currently recording statements of CBI witnesses in the case.

Chautala is in prison after being sentenced to a 10-year jail in the JBT scam case. He is serving imprisonment for illegally recruiting 3,206 JBT teachers in Haryana in 2000.

The CBI had registered three DA cases against Chautala and his two sons Ajay and Abhay, on a complaint by Haryana Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala.