| 15 months of shame end amid fanfare for Raja |
| | Tue, 15 May 2012 |
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NEW DELHI: After spending 15 months in Tihar Jail, former telecom minister A Raja finally walked out of the jail complex amongst much fanfare. Granted bail by a Delhi court in the 2G spectrum case, a visibly happy Raja returned to jail from court at 4.40pm.
"He had been quite hopeful of getting bail before he had left for court on Tuesday morning and had told his co-inmates the same. When he reached jail, he joked with the Tamil Nadu police posted at the deory and was smiling at everyone. He ordered sweets from the south Indian canteen in jail and distributed it amongst jail staff and ward number 9, where he was staying," said a jail source. South Indian fare had been started in the canteen for the first time at Raja's request, said jail officials.
Raja was later released at 7pm from jail after he completed all legal formalities following the bail order. "We received his bail order at 5.45pm and he was released after the formalities were concluded. His brother-in-law had come to take him from jail," said Neeraj Kumar, DG (Prisons).
Raja, who did not want to interact with media, left Tihar Jail quietly in a silver sedan, accompanied by his relatives and DMK leaders including MP TR Baalu.
Meanwhile, a crowd of DMK supporters had gathered at the jail entrance, bursting firecrackers and shouting slogans while waving red and black DMK flags. Nearly 500 supporters of the former minister had come down to Delhi from Tamil Nadu to 'take him back'. "I am happy that he is being released, I have been an ardent supporter of him, hope he is cleared of all charges someday," said one of his supporters who had come all the way from Padambalore, Raja's native district in Tamil Nadu.
Raja, who was granted bail on the ground of parity as other 13 co-accused have already secured bail, had apparently been planning the plea for months. "Initially, when he had entered jail he would play badminton and other activities. But for the last several weeks, he had been only poring over law books or meticulously go through legal matter relating to his case. He had told jail officials that he was a lawyer himself so was following the court proceedings to determine when is the best time to apply for bail," said a highly-placed jail source.
Raja's close aide Siddharth Behura had been awarded bail last week. Raja, who was arrested last year on February 2, is the fourteenth person to be granted bail on the case. Raja had spent 15 months in jail number 1 in Tihar. He had been lodged in the same ward where Indira Gandhi killers Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh had been lodged. Raja shared jail space with other high-profile criminals such as Sukhram, SS Rathi and RK Sharma during his stint in Tihar.
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