PANAJI
The North District & Sessions Court has fixed November 10 as the date for arguments before the charge against celebrity fitness trainer Gaurav Bidre, accused of killing assistant professor Gauri Achari on June 23.
When the matter came up for arguments before the charge on Tuesday, Bidre’s advocate pleaded he will submit his client’s bail petition along with his counterarguments and requested an adjournment.
The Court, admitting his plea, postponed the matter for November 10. The accused claimed he should be discharged from murder charges as it was not a planned attack nor was he carrying any weapon.
The Old Goa police, in its charge sheet before the District Court on September 20 charged Bidre under sections 302 for murder, 365 (kidnapping or abduction of a person with the intent to be kept secretly and wrongfully confined), 342 (wrongful confinement), and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
The 303-page charge sheet has 49 witnesses’ statements besides evidence collection from the crime scene and the confession of the accused.
The Old Goa police are likely to incorporate additional evidence in a supplementary charge sheet expected soon.
Bidre (36) is accused of strangulating Achari (35) in her car parked in her residential complex in Corlim after which he dumped her body in a jungle in Old Goa.
He strangled the victim in her car following a rift, shifted her body in his four-wheeler and dumped it in a forested area near the Kadamba Bypass. The body was recovered during a search when the victim's mother lodged a missing complaint with the Old Goa police.
