Jogdhankar said on the day of the incident, he suffered injuries, including three broken ribs and dislocation of his spinal cord. Shree Jogdhankar, booked for the murder of his friend Janhvi Kukreja at a New Year’s Eve party in Khar, has claimed that he himself is a victim of grievous assault and that there was a possibility he got injured while saving Kukreja from their assailants.
Jogdhankar (22), who was arrested along with Kukreja’s 19-year-old friend Diya Padalkar in January for the murder, has filed for bail on medical grounds and merit before the sessions court on Monday.
Jogdhankar said on the day of the incident, he suffered injuries, including three broken ribs and dislocation of his spinal cord. In his bail plea filed through lawyer Mahesh Vaswani, Jogdhankar has said that the police’s chargesheet does not explain the circumstances in which he sustained such grievous injuries.
The bail plea said the injuries show that they had been caused by brute force and could not have been accidental. But Jogdhankar does not name or identify his assailants, claiming that he was under the influence of alcohol and does not remember who assaulted him.
“Since the Applicant (Jogdhankar) was under the influence of alcohol, he is unable to remember who all assaulted him, and out of severe pain and fear, he left the party to save his life,” the bail plea stated.
It added that there were discrepancies in the CCTV footage. It is claimed that while Jogdhankar was seen to be entering Sion Hospital around 2 am, the building’s footage shows him leaving at 2.16 am.
The police claim that Jogdhankar and Padalkar got into an argument with Kukreja after she was unhappy about their alleged proximity at the party held in their common friend’s building in Khar. The police said the argument got violent with Kukreja being assaulted leading to her murder.
The bail plea further stated that despite the allegation that such a violent assault took place with Kukreja suffering 48 injuries, no one heard any commotion or cries, including the building residents or security guard.
It said there were also no eyewitnesses to the incident. The plea sought him to be released on interim bail to seek treatment for his injuries, claiming that he has not received any and it could cause paralysis or death.
The plea also sought bail on the ground that Jogdhankar is in his final year of a graduate course in hospitality and hotel administration with his final exams due this month. The court will hear the plea after the police file a reply.
Padalkar has also filed a bail plea after the Mumbai Police filed a chargesheet in March.
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