Early bail unlikely for Yograj Singh

new delhi: former cricketer yograj singh, an accused in the jessica lal murder case, may not be released over the weekend as the trial judge rejected a leniency plea and said he would continue to hear his bail arguments on monday. the additional sessions judge r l chugh also ordered the forfeiture of the surety of rs 25,000 of inder raj kapoor. kapoor had furnished surety for the singh when latter was released on bail after his arrest in 1999.on wednesday, kishan lal, who too had furnished surety for singh, had lost the same amount to the court. the judge had sent singh to judicial custody on wednesday after he appeared in court. despite non-bailable arrest warrants having been issued twice, singh could not be located by the police or his lawyers for 10 days. "two nbws were issued without any result. today too he has appeared on his own. had he chosen not to come, these nbws were useless," the judge observed. pressing for a lenient view of the matter, singh's lawyer ashok soni pleaded that he should be released on bail because he could not contact his lawyer and his knee condition was quite precarious. "it was some misunderstanding, communication gap. there was no intention on his part to ignore the court order," soni said. but the judge observed if the accused was released immediately after a day's judicial custody the other accused would tend to take it easy. "they might think it is a matter of just one day in prison, and they would start absenting as long as they want," the judge said. opposing the bail plea, special public prosecutor s k saxena said the accused should be sentenced to at least a week's imprisonment for non-compliance of court orders.