The Rajasthan High Court has initiated a probe against a judicial magistrate in Jaipur for granting bail to the Chairman of the Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) allegedly in violation of the law.Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Jaipur D D Sharma is under the scanner for visiting BoR Chairman Praveen Tayal in hospital and granting him full bail in a fraud case registered in Kota. Initiated by the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, based on a written complaint and oral request, the inquiry is being conducted by Registrar (Vigilance) D K Thanvi. Proceedings have been initiated and court staff and officials have already recorded their statements.Tayal was arrested on May 10 in connection with alleged irregularities in allotment of shares of a company of which he was a director. Arrest warrants were issued against Tayal, Director of Tayal Krishna Capital Market Company, by a Kota court following which he was picked up from a hotel in Jaipur.Tayal was arrested based on a complaint filed by the Overseas Capital Market Company. Acting on the complaint, police had registered a case against Tayal and five other directors in 2000 on charges that the company had accepted Rs 32 lakh but had not allotted the shares or returned the money.Immediately after his arrest, Tayal complained of severe chest pain and was admitted in Jaipur’s SMS hospital. According to court officials, Sharma accompanied the defence lawyers and visited Tayal in hospital, where he reportedly cleared his judicial remand papers.He is then reported to have gone back to his chamber and signed a bail order. ‘‘Besides the visit to the hospital, the problem is that technically, Sharma was authorised to grant Tayal only interim bail since the case was registered in Kota. Instead, he granted him full bail, which is against the law,’’ explained a lawyer.While the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association has decided not to create a ruckus over the new case, it is the most discussed case in the corridors of the court today. ‘‘We have decided to follow the case but not take it up as an issue. We have realised that when we make it an issue, things often don’t go right. All we want is that if he is guilty, he should be punished,’’ said advocate Manish Bhandari.
