THE Delhi High Court has ordered the constitution of a medical board at AIIMS to evaluate the condition of businessman Amit Katyal arrested in the alleged land for jobs-linked money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. While hearing Katyal’s interim bail plea sought on medical grounds, a single-judge bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan in its June 7 order said, “This court to ascertain the present medical condition of the petitioner had requisitioned a medical status report from the jail superintendent. A perusal of the report shows that the same does not disclose the underlying ailment from which the petitioner is stated to be suffering. to enable this court to arrive at a conclusion whether the petitioner requires sustained specialised treatment, which cannot be provided to him whilst in custody. The medical status report only records the complaints of the petitioner but not the underlying medical condition/ ailment.” The HC said in the absence of an expert opinion it is difficult for the court to conclude whether it is a case for grant of interim bail on medical grounds. “At the same time, on humanitarian grounds, the medical condition of the petitioner as borne out from the medical status report cannot be simply brushed aside given the fact that there is material on record suggesting that the petitioner is a heart patient and has undergone bariatric surgery recently besides having other ailments,” the bench underscored. It directed the director of AIIMS to immediately constitute a medical board of doctors from minimum three different specialties regarding the nature of ailments Katyal claimed to be suffering from. “The jail superintendent is directed to furnish all medical records of the petitioner to the medical board of doctors so constituted on or before 11.06.2024. The pairokar of the petitioner is also at liberty to furnish the relevant medical records of the petitioner to the board, with a copy thereof to the learned special counsel for the Directorate of Enforcement,” the court said. It added that after Katyal's evaluation, the medical board shall furnish its report to the court on or before June 14, specifically stating if his ailments warrant any specialised or more sustained treatment, personal care and special diet, which cannot be provided to him in the primary healthcare facility of jail. The matter is now listed on June 17. Katyal was arrested by the ED in November last year in connection with the case. The ED case stems from a probe by the CBI into allegations that people were given employment in the Indian Railways, when RJD president Lalu Prasad was the Railways Minister, in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to his family and associates. Katyal and his A K Infosystems Private Limited had been under the scanner of the CBI and the ED in connection with the alleged land-for-jobs scam for a long time. The ED has found during its investigation that A K Infosystems had received a land parcel from a relative of a candidate, who was selected as a Group-D substitute in Indian Railways. In 2014, Katyal allegedly handed over his company to the family members of Lalu Prasad.
