Court rejects Ketan Parekh's bail

A Kolkata court on Thursday rejected the bail application of leading stock broker Ketan Parekh and extended his judicial custody till April 19.

Rejecting the bail, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S C Misra disagreed with Parekh's contention that he had completed 90 days in custody during which Kolkata Police had failed to file a chargesheet against him and he be released on bail.

Parekh, who was arrested on January 20 after he surrendered before the CMM in connection with the Rs 120-crore (Rs 1.2-billion) payment crisis at Calcutta Stock Exchange in March 2001, pleaded that he was kept in custody in Mumbai for two days after his arrest on December 3 last year and had thus completed 90 days in custody.

But the public prosecutor argued that Parekh was released the next day after he secured bail from a Mumbai court on condition that he should surrender to the Kolkata Court and his arrest in Mumbai could not be taken into account.