Ashutosh Bhardwaj, accused in Delhi hit-and-drag case, gets bail

New Delhi, Jan 17: A court in Delhi's Rohini on Tuesday granted bail to Ashutosh Bhardwaj, an accused Kanjhawala case, in which a woman was dragged for several kilometres by a car that hit her scooter.

The court observed that his role started only after the commission of the offence.

Opposing the bail plea, the Delhi Police had earlier argued that the case is a serious one and they were in the process of invoking section 302 (murder) of the IPC against the accused.

The special public prosecutor (SPP) for the Delhi Police, Atul Srivastava, submitted, "We are in the process of invoking section 302 (murder) of the IPC (against the accused)."

Further informing the court that the investigation was at a crucial stage, he said, "We are in the process of adding the section for murder and some crucial witnesses in the case are to be examined. He can hamper the investigation if released on bail."

The counsel for Delhi Police further claimed that the accused harboured and misled the other accused persons in the case, adding that he also did not inform the police about the incident.

On the other hand, Shilpesh Chaudhary, the counsel for Ashutosh, argued that the accused was not in the car at the time of the incident, adding that the charges against his client were bailable in nature. He claimed that purported videos from the night of the incident, CDR (call detail records) and geo-location are proof that the applicant was at his home at the time of the incident.

Another accused Ankush is currently on bail.

Chaudhary on Thursday submitted that there is a video from 4:38 am, from the day of the incident, purportedly showing the accused sitting in the car and later parking the vehicle.

The counsel further submitted that Ashutosh uses an Apple i-Phone, which records the live location. According to the live location on his mobile phone, he was at home at the time of the incident.

To that, the SSP submitted, "We never said he (Ashutosh) was in the car. Our stand is that he provided his vehicle to a person who was not authorised to drive. He did not report the incident to the police despite being under legal compulsion to do so. He did not inform the police of the incident despite having knowledge of it."

The magistrate court on January 12 dismissed the bail plea filed by Ashutosh considering the gravity and sensitivity of the allegations against him and the fact that the investigation was at the initial stage.

A total of seven persons, including the five occupants of the car, were arrested in connection with the case.

In the incident, reported on January 1, new year's night, 20-year-old Anjali Singh was found dead on the street, with her clothes torn off, allegedly after being hit and dragged by a car driven by five youths in Outer Delhi's Khanjawala area.