Extortion bid from Karnataka jail: HC refuses bail to Gangster Yusuf Bachkana

The Bombay high court has rejected the bail plea of gangster Yusuf Bachkana, who was booked for attempting to extort ₹50 lakh from a city builder in 2021 while being held in Karnataka’s Bellari jail, where he is serving a life term

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has rejected the bail plea of gangster Yusuf Bachkana, who was booked for attempting to extort ₹50 lakh from a city builder in 2021 while being held in Karnataka’s Bellari jail, where he is serving a life term.

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According to the police, the builder began receiving calls from an unknown number in May 2021. The caller demanded ₹50 lakh and threatened the builder with dire consequences if he failed to meet the demand. Initially, the builder ignored the calls, but as they continued, he approached the Ghatkopar police station on June 8, 2021, where an FIR was registered against Bachkana. The gangster was lodged in Bellari jail at the time, serving a life sentence for murdering a builder in the Belgavi district of Karnataka.

The gangster applied for bail, arguing that there was no material linking him to the mobile number or handset from which the WhatsApp calls had been made to the builder. His counsel relied on an August 10, 2021, communication from the Superintendent of the Bellari Central Prison to his seniors, stating that no mobile phone or SIM cards were seized from Bachkana during daily and surprise searches conducted at regular intervals.

The lawyer also submitted that out of the 15 criminal cases registered against him, except for two, the gangster was either acquitted or granted bail and, therefore, he should also be granted bail in this case too.

Chief public prosecutor HS Venegaonkar opposed the bail plea, pointing out that the statements of witnesses recorded during the investigation sufficiently demonstrated that the extortion calls originated from Bellari jail, as the tower location was identified through the investigation. The police constable, who accompanied Bachkana while he was in Mumbai jail, identified the gangster’s voice.

A single-judge bench of Justice Manish Pitale accepted the arguments advanced by Venegaonkar and rejected the bail plea. “There are statements of witnesses recorded during the course of the investigation that prima facie indicate the involvement of the applicant, as the voice of the applicant appears to have been identified by one witness, supported by the FSL report, which is said to be positive,” said the judge while rejecting the gangster’s bail plea.

“A perusal of the confessional statement of the co-accused person indeed shows that she has attributed a role to the applicant, which is consistent with the allegation levelled by the informant against him,” the court added.