Jaipur: Two separate courts in the city have rejected interim bail pleas of suspended Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) member Babu Lal Katara in different matters separately probed by the state police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). One of these courts, however, has allowed Katara to attend his son’s wedding not on bail but under police custody from Dec 9 to 13.Katara’s lawyer Bhanu Prakash Sharma told TOI Friday, “Our interim bail pleas in both SOG and PMLA cases have been rejected but we have been allowed to attend the wedding under police custody. We will now appeal to a higher court to get interim bail as chargesheets have already been filed in both cases and no more investigation is pending.”In the ED case against Katara under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Special Judge Pradeep Kumar Modi rejected the bail plea but granted permission to attend the son’s wedding while in police custody. The judge instructed Katara to provide a written commitment not to flee and to secure two sureties of Rs 2 lakh each. The police have been directed to escort him and ensure he returns to jail after the wedding.Katara had requested interim bail to assist with preparations for his son Dipesh’s wedding on Dec 12. His lawyer argued that Katara has been in judicial custody for an extended period and emphasised the need for his presence due to his wife’s health issues. The prosecution opposed the bail request, citing the seriousness of the allegations against him. Sharma represented Katara in the PMLA case, while Special Public Prosecutor Shailendra Agrawal represented ED.Additionally, in the SOG’s case, heard by Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar Gupta-II, the court dismissed Katara’s interim bail requests related to the alleged leak of the 2021 Sub-Inspector Recruitment Examination paper and irregularities in the School Lecturer Recruitment Examination of 2022, as well as issues concerning fraudulent educational qualifications in the Agriculture Science Lecturer Recruitment. The SOG cases also involve allegations that Katara leaked the General Knowledge paper for the Senior Teacher Grade II examination in 2022 to Anil Kumar Meena, also known as Sher Singh Meena.
