Delhi court rejects bail plea of accused Ashutosh Bhardwaj in Kanjhawala hit-and-drag case

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Rohini court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of Ashutosh Bhardwaj in view of gravity and sensitivity of allegations against him and the investigation at the initial stage in the Kanjhawala hit-and-drag case. Also in view of the case is exclusively triable by the court of sessions.

Metropolitan magistrate Sanya Dalal rejected the bail application in view of the submissions of the Special Public Prosecutor for Delhi Police and allegations levelled against the accused Ashutosh.

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The court noted the submissions of the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) that the investigation is at the initial stage and the role of each accused has to be ascertained.

Earlier, the court reserved an order on the bail plea of Ashutosh after hearing the submissions of Delhi police and defence counsel. His counsel said the accused was not in the car at the time of the incident.

Delhi police stated that he misled and harboured the other accused persons. He also did not inform the police despite being under legal compulsion.

Advocate Shilpesh Chaudhary, counsel for Ashutosh Bhardwaj, submitted before the court that there are videos which show that the applicant was at his home at the time of the incident.

Advocate Chaudhary submitted as per the video at 12:30 AM Ashutosh was with his neighbour on the night of January 1. Another video is of Ankush, who called Ashutosh at 4:23 AM. The next video is in which Ashutosh was going with him, Chaudhary submitted.

Chaudhary also submitted that the in the media a video is running in which Ashutosh and Ankush are standing with the Auto, and argued that Deepak had come with an auto. Thereafter, the car came.

Advocate Chaudhary also submitted that there is a video of 4:38 AM in which Ashutosh could be seen sitting in the car and going to park it. His GPS location and his CDR also prove that he was at his home and not in the car, the counsel submitted.

The counsel submitted that Ashutosh uses an iPhone which records the live location. According to the phone's live location, Ashutosh was at home.

"The only allegations against him are under 212, 201, 120B Part, and these are bailable in nature," Chaudhary said.

He also said that Ashutosh was not in the car when the offence was committed. "Another accused Ankush is on bail," he said.

Special public prosecutor (SPP) Atul Srivastava said, "Before the stage of charge the document can't be produced by the defence. The authenticity of this video can't be established as these are without section 65B of the Evidence Act certificate."

SPP Srivastava also 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 inform the police regarding the accident for which he was under legal compulsion. He didn't inform the police about the incident despite having knowledge," SPP said.

He also submitted that Deepak was driving the car. Actually, Amit was driving the car. His conduct from the beginning.

"Why did you bring the wrong person as the driver of the car," SPP argued.

He also informed the court that the investigation on IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) is still going on.

Ashutosh's lawyer, Chaudhary contended that on the last hearing, the investigating officer (IO) had submitted that Ankush was the person who said that Deepak was driving the car.

"Either the IO earlier told lie, or he is lying today," he argued.

SPP also said that there may be some miscommunication. "The IO had said that both Ankush and Ashutosh misled the investigation.

When Ashutosh was not booked under IPC section 304 then how a case under IPC section 120B (criminal conspiracy) was registered against him? Choudhary argued. "We are investigating the case," SSP said.

"What is the purpose of keeping him in custody? How I am responsible for other's actions," said Ashutosh's lawyer.

Ashutosh Bhardwaj is one of the accused in the Kanjhawala case. A total of seven persons, including the five occupants of the car, have been arrested in connection with the case.

The incident was reported on January 1, New Year's day. A 20-year-old, Anjali Sing, 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.

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