Teacher recruitment scam: HC directs Om Prakash Chautala to surrender on or before October 17

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, out on bail after being convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in a teachers recruitment scam case, to surrender on or before October 17. Justice Siddharth Mridul passed the order after Chautala's counsel stated that the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader would surrender by that date. The submission was made by the counsel as Justice Mridul was about to order constitution of a medical board of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences to opine on the necessity of keeping Chautala hospitalised, as he had addressed a rally yesterday at Jind in Haryana.

The counsel said that Chautala was celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of his father, Devi Lal, at Jind in Haryana and was airlifted there in an air-ambulance with the permission of doctors from Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon. The court, however, was unimpressed and remarked that the INLD leader should have sought high court's permission to attend rallies while he was out on bail. CBI too opposed the contentions made on behalf of Chautala, saying he is taking the court and the agency for a "jolly ride" by producing medical records, on each date of hearing, which say he is seriously ill and then goes on to address a rally.

While directing Chautala to surrender, the court disposed of his application for bail. The court, meanwhile, extended the interim bail of Ajay Singh Chautala, INLD MLA Sher Singh Badshami, Om Prakash Chautala's former Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar and former IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar on medical grounds. While Ajay and Badshami's interim bail have been extended till October 31, those of Kumar and Vidya Dhar have been extended till October 17.