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SC grants bail to Congress leader Rasheed Masood convicted in medical scam

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The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Congress leader Rasheed Masood who was disqualified from the Rajya Sabha and jailed for four years after being convicted in a medical admission scam.

The bail by the apex court comes three days after Masood had on Friday moved the SC, filing a plea against rejection of his bail petition by the Delhi High Court.

The former Rajya Sabha lawmaker, in his plea filed through lawyer Archit, sought bail on various grounds including that he is acutely diabetic and taking insulin several times a day besides other medicines for his ailments.

He had challenged the order of the High Court which refused to grant him bail on November 14, last year during the pendency of his appeal against the conviction in the graft case.

Acting on the Congress MP’s plea, the Supreme Court then issued a notice to the CBI, seeking its response.

The 68-year-old Congress leader became the first MP to lose his Rajya Sabha seat in 2013 after the Supreme Court’s ruling on disqualification of convicted lawmakers.

Masood has also challenged the trial court’s verdict convicting him and sentencing him to a four-year jail term.

He was held guilty by the trial court in September 2013 of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool as Health Minister in the National Front government of 1990.

The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 on him.

Masood’s conviction and sentencing was the first case after the apex court judgement that struck down a provision in the Representation of the People Act, under which incumbent MPs and MLAs could avoid disqualification till pendency of the appeal against conviction in a higher court.

Masood, Minister of Health in the VP Singh government between 1990 and 1991, was held guilty of fraudulently nominating his nephew, another juvenile and Sachidanand Dwivedi to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool.

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