Delhi woman dragged by car | Court rejects bail plea of sixth accused

A Metropolitan court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of Ashutosh Bharadwaj, an accused in the hit-and-drag case that killed a 20-year-old woman in the national capital.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sanya Dalal said considering the gravity of the offences, the fact that the investigation is at an initial stage and the offences alleged against the accused are exclusively triable by sessions court, this court is not inclined to grant bail.

Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava alleged Bharadwaj had misled the investigation by stating co-accused Deepak was driving the car.

"There is a thin line of difference having knowledge and subsequently having knowledge. We are investigating the case...When he (Bharadwaj) was a free man, he misled the investigation. He can mislead again in future," the APP said. According to the prosecution, Bhardwaj had wrongly claimed co-accused Deepak Khanna was driving the car, while it was found during the investigation that it was another accused Amit who was at the wheel.

Raising questions about the "conduct" of Bharadwaj, the APP said though the accused was under the legal compulsion to inform the police, he instead misled the prosecution.

The prosecutor said it is never our case that Bharadwaj was inside the car but that he provided the vehicle involved in the accident to another co-accused who did not possess a driving licence.

(Inputs from PTI)