In connection with the alleged rape of a woman by Sonipat (Haryana) native and son of ex-Member of Parliament Kishan Singh Sangwan, Pradeep Sangwan surrendered before the court of judicial magistrate-II here in Dehradun on Monday. The court rejected his bail application and he was sent to the Suddhowala jail.
Earlier, without surrendering himself, Sangwan had approached the court of judicial magistrate-III on July 5 and district session court on July 10, but these courts had rejected his bail application. Pradeep Sangwan had got exemption from arrest for 15 days from the Supreme Court on July 2 and had directed him to surrender in the lower court.
After the Uttarakhand High Court and Supreme Court rejected his bail application, Pradeep Sangwan was in Dehradun to secure bail from the lower court without surrendering himself.
Regarding this case, Special Investigation Team (SIT) had filed charge sheet against Sangwan’s brother in law Ajay Mann and the woman complainant on July 12. The woman complainant had already secured bail from the lower court in the last week of June. Failing to secure bail without surrendering himself, Sangwan surrendered himself before the court of judicial magistrate-II.
The court has rejected his bail application and sent him to Suddhowala jail. Moreover, Sangwan’s brother-in-law Ajay Mann, who knew the victim and had allegedly made a deal with her to settle the case, had earlier approached the Uttarakhand High Court seeking exemption from arrest earlier, but his application was rejected. He is still absconding. The SIT had attached Mann’s Delhi property on July 9.
The SIT had earlier arrested the woman complaint from her Dehradun home after police collected enough evidence to indict her. She had bought land for Rs 17 lakh at Banjarawala in Dehradun using the money purportedly paid to her by the accused to reach a ‘compromise’. Police had also recovered Rs six lakh unaccounted cash from her home. It should be mentioned here that based on victim’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 was sexually exploited by Pradeep at hotels in Mussoorie and Rajpur.