AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Tuesday granted bail to the main accused in the controversial
Naliya rape case after the survivor turned hostile during her deposition before the trial court a few months ago. A
Naliya resident Vinod Thakkar alias Babaseth (69) was arrested in February last year after the 22-year-old survivor complained before Kutch police that she was forced into a prostitution racket involving BJP leaders. With Thakkar, his 35-year-old son, Chetan, was also arrested.
Thakkar was seeking bail ever since the complainant in the case did not support her own complaint made before police. But the trial court had been denying bail to him on the ground that he is a rich and politically influential person and he may influence witnesses, who were yet to be examined.
The high court quashed one such order passed by the trial court in Bhuj rejecting Thakkar’s bail application and ordered the lower court to hear his bail plea once again. The HC also noticed that the trial court passed an order in which the reasons for the decision were not discussed at all. However, Thakkar had to approach the HC after the lower court rejected his bail plea once again on August 2. tnn
Representative Image
