A Delhi court has granted bail to a man who was booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) eight years after he was arrested in connection with murder, robbery, snatching and extortion cases.
Additional Sessions Judge Kiran Gupta granted bail to Surender Bhatt subject to furnishing of a personal bond and two sureties of ₹1 lakh each.
The accused was arrested in March this year under section 3 (punishment for organised crimes) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of a member of organised crime syndicate) of the MCOCA.
Seeking dismissal of his bail, Additional Public Prosecutor Shiv Kumar apprised the court that allegations against the accused are “serious” as he is involved in more than three cases involving punishment of more than three years.
“He is part of a syndicate of organised crime and his name is specifically mentioned in the FIR. He was absconding and has been arrested after much effort. He is involved in 17 cases,” the prosecutor said.
Taking note of the prosecutor’s submissions, the court said his involvement in the 17 matters were prior to 2009 and in most of the cases, he was either released by the investigating officer or discharged by the court.
“In three cases, he has been acquitted. There is no case lodged against him after 2009. Even the present FIR is of 2013. The applicant has been arrested after almost eight years of lodging of the present FIR,” the sessions judge noted while granting bail on June 18.
Advocate Ajay Kumar Pipaniya, representing the accused, sought bail on the ground that his client has been falsely implicated in the case and arrested almost eight years after the FIR was lodged.
The FIR was registered against co-accused Satish and Surender’s name was falsely dragged to complete the chain of events, he said, adding that there was no evidence that he was part of an organised crime syndicate.
“He has not been involved in any offence for the past 11 years. In all the cases which were pending against him, he has either been released by the police,” Advocate Pipaniya said.
According to the counsel of the accused, the police have not filed any charge sheet in the case.
“In a rare order, first bail under the stringent law to curb organised crime was sought within 80 days without even filing of the charge sheet,” he said.
