E-Paper
Nafe Singh Rathee murder case: CBI court rejects second bail plea of accused
CBI had filed a charge sheet last year in May against four accused: Ashish alias Baba, Sachin alias Saurav, Dharmender and Amit Gulia. Other accused are still at large.
The court of CBI special judge has dismissed the second bail application of Dharmender (33), a resident of Rohtak district, who is an accused in the high-profile murder case of former MLA Nafe Singh Rathee. The accused applied for bail on the grounds that he was not informed of the reason for his arrest when he was taken into custody.
The case was originally registered by the Jhajjar police but was subsequently transferred to the CBI. CBI, New Delhi, had registered the case on May 1 last year (referring to the year 2024, given the arrest and murder dates) under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 147, 148, 149 (rioting), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.
CBI had filed a charge sheet last year in May against four accused: Ashish alias Baba, Sachin alias Saurav, Dharmender and Amit Gulia. Other accused are still at large.
Dharmender was arrested on March 7, 2024. His first bail application was dismissed on July 16, this year.
The court, in dismissing the second plea, noted, ”...In the present case, applicant-accused having not raised any objection to his arrest at the time of remand proceedings and not pleading in the first bail application that his arrest stood vitiated by reason of non-communication of grounds of arrest and he having filed the bail application on an immediate and informed understanding of the accusations, it can well be said without hesitation that he as also one of his relatives/friends was made aware of the grounds of his arrest and hence, there is no question of any prejudice being caused due to the alleged procedural lapse. In this view of the matter, applicant-accused is not entitled to concession of regular bail on the ground pleaded in the application which is accordingly dismissed.”
The court highlighted that this ground was available to the accused when he filed his first bail application, but it was never raised at that time.
Last month, the CBI court formally framed charges against the four arrested accused in the Nafe Singh Rathee murder case. The CBI also filed a status report regarding the open-dated arrest warrants issued for the proclaimed offenders who are absconding.
Nafe Singh Rathee, the Haryana chief of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and a party worker, Jai Kishan, were shot and killed in their vehicle in Bahadurgarh on February 25, 2024.
Rathee was a prominent Jat leader who had previously served two terms as a legislator and two terms as the chairman of the Bahadurgarh municipal council. He also held the position of president of the Indian-style Wrestling Association of India.
