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Jaya Jaitley allowed to retain passport

A special court Thursday allowed Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitley, who is facing trial in a corruption case linked to a purported defence deal, to retain her passport. Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] Special Judge Kanwaljeet Arora allowed Jaitley's plea that she needed her passport every now and then for attending meetings and discussions abroad.

'I am of the opinion that no prejudice is going to be caused to the case if the passport taken into possession by the CBI is released to be kept with the accused [Jaitley],' said Judge Arora.

Jaitley is facing trial for allegedly taking Rs 2 lakh as bribe in December 2000 for recommending a fictitious defence deal to the defence ministry. The case stems out of a sting operation, 'Operation Westend', aired by news portal Tehelka.com in January 2001.

The CBI alleged that Jaitley, her former party colleague Gopal Pacherwal and Maj Gen [retd] SP Murgai accepted illegal gratification from Mathew Samuel, who posed as a representative of Westend International Co, for obtaining orders to supply the army hand-held thermal imagers.
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