COURT GRANTS BAIL TO CM, HIS DEPUTY IN CS ASSAULT CASE

CS Prakash was allegedly assaulted in a meeting at Kejriwal’s official residence

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and nine other AAP MLAS were on Thursday granted bail by a court here in the Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash assault case. The relief was granted after they appeared before the court in pursuance to summons issued to them and moved the bail applications, which were not opposed by the Delhi police. Prakash was allegedly assaulted during a meeting at Kejriwal's official residence on February 19.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal granted bail to all the 11 accused on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety of like amount, with a direction not to tamper with the evidence or intimidate or approach any witness in this case or try to influence the trial in any manner. "All these accused persons have not been arrested during the investigation, have cooperated in the investigation and appeared today," the court said.

The court also noted the submission by the public prosecutor on behalf of Delhi police there the need for the arrest of the accused persons had not arisen during the investigation. "Further all accused are highly placed persons and have deep roots in the society and elected members of Legislative Assembly of Delhi," the court said.

The other two MLAS –Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal –who are also accused and were earlier arrested in the case were granted bail by the Delhi High Court. The court put up the matter for further hearing on December 7 for the scrutiny of documents after the police supplied copies of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia arrive at latter’s residence, in New Delhi, on Thursday

charge sheet and all documents annexed with it, along with the CDS, to the accused persons. The alleged assault had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi government and its bureaucrats.

The alleged assault took place on the intervening night of February 19 and 20 at Kejriwal's residence, when Prakash

was called for a meeting. A case was registered on Prakash's complaint, who had alleged that he was assaulted by AAP MLAS. Apart from Kejriwal and Sisodia, MLAS Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Nitin Tyagi, Rituraj Govind, Sanjeev Jha, Ajay Dutt, Rajesh Rishi, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal, Parveen Kumar and Dinesh Mohaniya have been named as accused in the case.

In its 1,300-page chargesheet, police had charged all the accused, including Kejriwal and Sisodia, under the same 13 IPC sections. In February, police had lodged a case under eight IPC sections, but added five more sections in the chargesheet.

ACMM Samar Vishal, however, did not take cognizance of IPC section 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace). “I have gone through the chargesheet and documents filed along with it. There are sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused. Let these accused be summoned through IO for October 25,” the ACMM had earlier said.

Last month, the ACMM Samar Vishal had taken cognizance of the offences in the chargesheet and had summoned all the accused.