IPL Spot Fixing: S Sreesanth's friend Abhishek Shukla, arrested for allegedly removing the cricketer's money and articles from his hotel room, was on Thursday granted bail by a court here which rejected the Delhi Police plea to send him to judicial custody.

Shukla, working as a manager in a private firm, was granted bail by the court on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and a surety of the like amount. He was directed to surrender his passport, not to leave his residence in Mumbai and join the probe.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Lokesh Kumar Sharma rejected the prosecution's plea to remand him to judicial custody as it was of the view that police has failed to convince that Shukla was a part of the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

Shukla's counsel Ankur Jain moved a bail plea, saying he was not a part of the conspiracy. He is the first person who has been granted bail in the spot fixing case.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Shukla on Wednesday. He is accused of removing money from Sreesanth's hotel room in Mumbai immediately after his arrest on behalf of co-accused Jiju Janardhan.