Court grants bail to gangster who made extortion call to restaurant owner from jail

New Delhi [India], May 31 (ANI): Delhi's Rohini Court granted bail to a gangster, who is accused of making an extortion call to a restaurant owner from inside the jail where he was lodged.
Earlier, the accused gangster and his gang members had opened fire at the restaurant twice. He followed it up with an alleged extortion call from jail.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Neeraj Gaur granted bail to Harsimran alias Badal in the extortion case filed by the restaurant owner.
The court granted him bail citing the time that he has already served behind bars.
Noting that the accused had been in custody for a considerable time, the judge said, "The charges have not yet been framed and the trial will take its own time. The further custody of the applicant/accused is not required for trial."
The accused has 22 cases against him including one registered under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). He was arrested in October 2020.
After considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the court on May 27 granted bail to the accused on a bond of Rs 35,000 with one surety of the same amount.
According to the prosecution's case, the complainant runs a restaurant at Shalimar Bagh in the national capital.
"On August 8, 2020, one person arrived at the eatery and gave his phone to the complainant, asking him to speak to a Badal Bhai. The person stated that he was the one who had opened fire on the shop about a year ago and had threatened to kill the complainant," a police officer said.
The officer further said that on August 18, 2020, 2 boys visited the shop and gave a phone to the owner of the eatery. The person on the other end of the wire demanded Rs 2 lakh, the officer said, adding that when the two boys visited the restaurant again on August 20, 2020, they were reprehended by the complainant's uncle."
"On August 23, 2020, 3 boys came on a motorcycle and 2 of them opened fire at the eatery before fleeing the spot. A chargesheet was filed under sections 387 and 506 of the IPC and under Arms Act," the officer added.
Advocate Ankit Tyagi, the counsel for the accused, submitted that his client had been in custody since October 5, 2020. Charges have not yet been framed and trial will take a long time, he added.
He also submitted that as per the FIR, the applicant told the complainant over the phone that he opened fire at his eatery a year ago and no complaint with regard to the firing incident was lodged by the restaurant owner, the counsel said.
He argued further that there was a delay in filing the FIR. "The last bail application was dismissed on June 18, 2021, before the filing of the chargesheet. Now the chargesheet has been filed and further custody is not required," the counsel said.
However, the additional public prosecutor (APP) opposed the bail application arguing that the accused was the mastermind of the plan to extort the complainant.
"He is involved in about 22 other cases. Two mobile phones, which he had been keeping with himself behind bars, were recovered," the additional public prosecutor added. (ANI)