HC grants bail to co-accused in Sonali Phogat’s murder
Justice Karnik observed that Singh, who was acting primarily as a liaison, prima facie appears to have acted as per the instructions of the accused no.1 (Sudhir Sangwan) and posed no flight risk
: The Bombay high court in Goa on Thursday granted bail to Sukhwinder Singh, co-accused in the murder of BJP leader and actress Sonali Phogat.
Justice M S Karnik granted bail to Singh on a bail bond of ₹1 lakh and sureties of the similar amount.
In his judgement, Justice Karnik observed that Singh, who was acting primarily as a liaison, prima facie appears to have acted as per the instructions of the accused no.1 (Sudhir Sangwan) and posed no flight risk.
Singh’s bail application was earlier rejected by the sessions court following which he approached the Goa bench of Bombay high court.
“Having gone through the materials on record, it is seen that the accusations are mainly against [Sudhir Sangwan]... The prosecution case is based on circumstantialevidence. The materials against [Sukhwinder Singh] are in the realm of suspicion. There are no criminal antecedents reported against [him]. The applicant is in custody for more than eight months with the possibility of the trial commencing and concluding soon appearing remote. The investigation is complete and the charge-sheet has been filed,” the high Court noted.
Singh has been directed to report to the CBI Goa office once a week on every Friday between 10am to 12pm. Other conditions include that he does not leave Goa till further orders of the trial court and shall not threaten the witnesses or tamper with the evidence among other conditions.
The CBI had opposed Singh’s bail application claiming that the case at hand was a case of ‘cold-blooded, well-planned murder’ and that co-accused Singh ‘actively assisted Sangwan in committing the crime.’
The CBI has built a case that Sangwan, who was working as the personal assistant to Sonali Phogat became ‘closely associated’ with her and ‘he was the one who was responsible for creating a rift between the victim and her close relations.’
According to the CBI chargesheet, Sangwan and Singh have been charged under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code read with section 34 (common intention) and 36 [effect (in this case death) caused partly by act and partly by omission].
