Kanjhawala case: Court denies bail to accused for tampering evidence

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday dismissed bail plea of Ashutosh Bhardwaj, an accused in the Kanjhawala death case in which a 20-year-old woman was dragged by the car for 12 kilometers from Sultanpuri to Kanjhawala in the early hours of January 1.

Metropolitan Magistrate, Rohini court, Sanya Dalal said that 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.

By claiming that co-accused Deepak was driving the car, Bharadwaj allegedly deceived the inquiry, according to Additional Public Prosecutor (AAP) Atul Srivastava.

"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.

As per sources, Bhardwaj, the car owner and brother of Amit, Ankush Khanna had talks with the five accused and as Amit did not have driving licence, Deepak was told to tell police that he was in the driving seat at the time of incident.

Counsel representing Bhardwaj, had moved the plea on January 9 seeking bail on grounds that the offences are bailable in nature and that the accused has cooperated with police post incident.

However, Srivastava, opposed the plea arguing that Bhardwaj had handed over the car involved in the accident to co-accused, who did not possess a driving licence.

The APP questioned Bharadwaj's "behaviour," claiming that despite being legally required to tell the police, the defendant deceived the prosecution.

"It shows that the accused Bharadwaj might be in agreement with other accused," he said.

The APP stated that it is never our case that Bharadwaj was in the car, but rather that he gave another co-accused who lacked a driver's licence access to the car that was involved in the accident.

The prosecution also informed the court that it had not yet been possible to determine each accused person's role in the case based on their live location or Google Timeline.

Shilpesh Chaudhary, Bharadwaj's counsel, argued that none of the claimed offences were non-bailable because the accused was not in the car when the incident occurred.

He claimed that after the alleged occurrence, Bharadwaj worked with the police and assisted in the capture of two co-accused.

On January 9, the court sent the six accused to 14 days' judicial custody.

Other than Bhardwaj, the accused have been identified as Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mitthun and Manoj Mittal.