Delhi’s Rohini Court on Tuesday while granting bail to accused Ashutosh Bhardwaj in the Kanjhawala hit-and-drag case, observed that the Delhi Police hadn’t yet been able to produce any CCTV footage or call detail records (CDRs) to suggest that Ashutosh conspired with the other accused before committing the crime.
During the hearing the Delhi police informed the court that Section 302 (murder) of IPC has been added to the FIR.
Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Bala Dagar, said, “He is alleged to have helped in eliminating evidence of the offence and harbouring/protecting the other accused persons.”
“All these allegations seem to have come forth only after the act was allegedly committed by the co-accused persons,” the court noted further.
The court observed, “At this stage, there seems to be no document in the form of CDR / CCTV footage etc. produced by the investigating agency to show any prior meeting of minds of accused/ applicant Ashutosh with the other co-accused persons to commit the act before he received the alleged call from co-accused Ankush at 4.56 am.”
The accused has been in judicial custody since January 5 and is no longer required for custodial interrogation, the court ruled.
The court granted bail to Ashutosh on a bail bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety bond of the same amount.
The court imposed certain conditions on the accused, one of which is that he “shall not make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case”.
“The applicant shall not tamper with the evidence. He shall not leave the country without the permission of the court,” it directed further.
The court also directed that he shall always keep active his mobile’s location application at all times, adding that he will have to cooperate with the investigating agency as and when required.
