No evidence against me,says Mahindra

Mahindra,86,was in Bhopal to deposit a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh,one of the four conditions in the bail granted by the District Sessions Court last week. He has been barred from leaving the country without the court’s permission and asked to appear regularly during the trial of his appeal challenging the CJM’s June 7 order. The other condition was that he would have to undergo the sentence in the event of his appeal being rejected.

Mahindra was immediately released on bail on June 7. Last week,his lawyer challenged the conviction and successfully argued for the bail pending the appeal. “My sympathies are with the victims of Bhopal. What happened (in 1984) was terrible. What should be done should be done quickly. If they want compensation give it to them,” Mahindra said,adding that “there is no point spending time in legal matters”. He said he had been saying for the past 20 years that he wanted to do something for the victims.

He admitted that he had resigned from the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry. “It was a great honour to be on that panel. I don’t want to discredit that honour by staying on,” he said,adding that he had left it to the Prime Minister to decide.

Meanwhile,five other accused also submitted their personal bonds of Rs 1 lakh each to meet the bail condition. These five former officials of UCIL were granted bail by the court a day after Mahindra’s bail plea was decided.