PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa granted bail to Sukhvender Singh, co-accused in the murder of BJP leader and actress Sonali Phogat who died of suspected drug overdose at her hotel in Anjuna last year.Singh, who is arraigned as a co-accused in the murder alongside the main accused Sudhir Sangvan, was granted bail on a bond of Rs 1-lakh and a surety of a like amount on the condition that he report to the CBI Goa office once a week on every Friday between 10 am to 12 noon and that he does not leave the State till further orders of the trial Court and shall not threaten the witnesses or tamper with the evidence among other conditions.
In his judgement, Justice M S Karnik observed that Singh, who was acting primarily as a liaison for Sonali Phogat and her personal assistant Sudhir Sangvan, “prima facie appears to have acted as per the instructions of the accused no 1 (Sudhir Sangvan).”
“Having gone through the materials on record it is seen that the accusations are mainly against accused No 1... The prosecution case is based on circumstantial evidence. The materials against the applicant (Singh) are in the realm of suspicion. There are no criminal antecedents reported against him. The applicant is in custody for more than eight months with the possibility of the trial commencing and concluding soon appearing remote. The investigation is complete and the charge-sheet has been filed,” the High Court noted.
