HC adjourns hearing into Sethi's bail plea till Feb 28

Mumbai, Feb 26 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today adjourned hearing into the bail application moved by dance bar owner Manjeet Singh Sethi and his son Vicky in a 1997 case pertaining to kidnapping, assault and robbery, till February 28.

Meanwhile, the High Court also stayed perjury proceedings against Manjeet Singh, Vicky and three others in the same case till March 28.

A Sessions court had sentenced the father-son duo to ten years' imprisonment on charges of kidnapping, assault and robbery. The complaint in this regard had been lodged by Kuldeep Singh Chandok who had alleged that he had been kidnapped by Manjeet Singh and his son on January 6, 1997, from the premises of the Sessions court here.

The father-son duo had, then, assaulted him and robbed him of Rs 50,000, Chandok had alleged.

In the same case, the Sessions court had also served perjury notices upon five persons, including Manjeet Singh and Vicky. The other three to be served the notices were Rashmi Bhatnagar, Randheer Sharma and Saddankumar Das.

Sethi and his son had appealed in the High Court against the conviction and simultaneously applied for bail.

A single judge Bench of Justice V K Tahilramani today adjourned the hearing into their bail applications till February 28 when the Sessions court is scheduled to issue a copy of its judgement.

At the same time, the court stayed the perjury proceedings. A separate application has been filed regarding the perjury notices and the matter will now be heard on March 28.

Meanwhile, the court has directed the state government to shift Manjeet Singh to the Arthur Road Jail till the time the applications are decided. Despite earlier High Court orders, the father-son duo has been shifted to Kolhapur prison.

UNI