Randhawa moves HC for bail

LUCKNOW/BAHRAICH: Golfer Jyoti Randhawa moved the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday, seeking bail in connection with poaching charges levelled against him. The Lucknow bench of the court granted the Uttar Pradesh government three days’ time to file its counter-affidavit on Randhawa’s plea and fixed the next date of hearing on February 15. A bench of Justice Mohammad Faiz Alam Khan passed the order on the plea of Randhawa, who sought bail claiming that he was innocent and was booked on false charges. Opposing the plea, the state’s lawyer demanded time to file a reply. Randhawa and former Naval officer Mahesh Birajdar are lodged in Bahraich jail since December 26 last year. The duo was arrested by a forest team for hunting in the Tiger Reserve in Bahraich on December 26. After being arrested, the duo filed bail plea in Bahraich district court. However, after hearing arguments from both sides, district judge Upendra Kumar rejected their bail plea on January 14. The golfer had then moved the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. Dudhwa Tiger Reserve field director Ramesh Kumar Pandey said that the court had asked for some information from the forest department that was provided to the court on February 5. Hearing the arguments of the forest department and taking note of the firearm’s ballistic report, the court fixed February 15 as the next date of hearing and asked the forest department to submit a detailed affidavit in connection with the case. Randhawa and Birajdar were arrested along with an imported high-range mounted .22 rifle and 80 live cartridges. Besides, a hunted jungle fowl and the hide of a sambhar were also recovered from their possession. A postmortem examination report of the jungle fowl has confirmed a bullet injury. HTC