Ghaziabad, Apr 19 (IANS): A special CBI court here Wednesday granted bail to an Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat in a case related to alleged irregularities in utilising funds given to Uttar Pradesh by the central government under a rural health scheme, a lawyer said.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge A.K. Singh granted bail to Abhay Kumar Vajpayee, managing director of the state-owned Uttar Pradesh State Industries Corp.

Sudhir Tyagi, counsel for Vajpayee, said the court granted him bail as the probe agency submitted a charge sheet against him without even applying to the government for sanction to proceed against him.

It was a premature charge sheet and on this technical ground the court granted bail to Vajpayee.

The CBI pleaded that it had applied for the government sanction which was a sufficient for the process.

The court also rejected the bail application of S.P. Ram, former director general of the health department.

The investigating agency has filed 13 cases to probe alleged irregularities in utilising Rs.10,000 crore funds allocated under the NRHM.