Ahmedabad: Court grants bail to man arrested 47 years after offence

AHMEDABAD: Yashvant Rao Maratha, 68, was waiting for his summons for 47 years to appear before the court in a case of armed robbery. On the other hand, he was an absconding accused in the case for nearly half a century before he was arrested last month.
A driver by profession, Maratha was arrested on September 12 from his residence in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on a non-bailable warrant issued by the city sessions court in a case of armed robbery registered in 1973. The case was registered with the Astodiya police station, now renamed as Khadia police station. He was placed in Sabarmati central jail after arrest, from where he filed for bail. Looking at his age and the nature of the case, principal sessions judge S K Baxi on Tuesday granted Maratha conditional bail.
During the hearing on his bail application, Maratha’s advocate claimed his innocence. He submitted that Maratha’s car was used and that was how the co-accused was known to him. He was implicated in this case because of the registration of the car.
The lawyer further submitted that the cops had earlier told him that he would be called as a witness in this case, but no police official had approached him and no summons or warrant was served on him during all these years. There was no intention to escape from justice and the address furnished to the police, which was mentioned in the chargesheet, was also not false. His daughter nowadays lives on this address and it was his daughter only, who directed the cops to his new address.
The state government opposed Maratha’s bail plea citing his over four decades of abscondance.
The court granted bail to Maratha on his furnishing a solvent surety of Rs 25,000 and on condition of not leaving the city of Ahmedabad without prior permission of the court.