HC grants bail to Manjeet Singh Sethi, his son in kidnapping case

Mumbai, Mar 7 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today granted bail to dance bar crusader Manjeet Singh Sethi and his son Vicky on a surety of Rs 50,000 each in the 1997 case of kidnapping, torture and robbery.

A Sessions Court here on February 6 had sentenced Manjeet and Vicky to 10 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 each in the kidnapping, torture and robbery cases on a complaint filed by Kuldeep Singh Chandok.

In the complaint, Mr Chandok had alleged the father-son duo had kidnapped him from the premises of the Session Court in January 1997 and took him to a location in Western suburbs, where they had forcibly taken away some blank signed stamps as well as Rs 50,000.

The father-son duo had filed an appeal against the Session Court's order in the High Court.

Admitting their appeal, a single bench of Justice V K Tahilramani granted the bail to Manjeet and Vicky.

Senior Counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing on behalf of the Sethis, argued that there were several discrepancies in the trial court's judgment.

On that, the court observed that in the Sethi's case, the Session Judge had acted under pressure from the Maharashtra government and perversely convicted the appellants.

UNI