The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun, has rejected bail application of Ajay Mann (brother-in-law of Pradeep Sangwan) who had allegedly made a deal with a woman after she had registered a case against Pradeep Sangwan under Sections 376 (2), 323, 506 of IPC and 66 IT Act in the Rajpur Police Station on April 18 this year. The hearing on Mann’s bail plea would be held again in the session court on September 25. Mann surrendered in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate on September 15 and was sent to jail from there.
Mann had earlier approached Uttarakhand High Court, seeking exemption from arrest, but his application was rejected. He was absconding since then. A team was deployed on September 10 to nab him. Finally, he surrendered in the court on September 15. The SIT had attached Mann’s Delhi property on July 9.
It should be mentioned here that based on the woman’s complaint, a case under Sections 376 (2), 323, 506 and 66 IT Act was registered in the Rajpur Police Station on April 18, 2014. The complainant had already recorded her statement before the magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC on April 22. The complainant who was an employee at Joyland Water Park, near Sahastradhara owned by Pradeep Sangwan, had alleged that she had been sexually exploited by Pradeep at hotels in Mussoorie and Rajpur. The SIT had earlier arrested the woman complainant from her Dehradun residence after police had collected enough evidence to indict her. She had bought land for Rs17 lakh at Banjarawala in Dehradun, using the money purportedly paid to her by the accused to reach the ‘deal’. Police had also recovered Rs6 lakh unaccounted cash from her home too.