NEW DELHI: One of the six accused in the case involving the death of NRI student Anmol Sarna Monday approached a Delhi court seeking permission to travel abroad in order to pursue his studies.
Accused Shivank Gambhir, who is presently out on bail, in his application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Veena Rani said that his passport should be released so that he may go to the United Kingdom for further studies.
The application seeks that the "passport seized on November 7, 2013, be released. He (Shivank) be allowed to travel abroad, so as to enable him to continue his education in engineering at Bristol University (UK) during pendency of investigation in the case".
Sarna died during a party, where drugs were consumed, on the intervening night of September 13 and 14 last year at a friend's residence in South Park Apartments at Kalkaji here.
Sarna's family members, who were also present during the hearing of Gambhir's plea today, opposed the move and sought its dismissal.
Police, too, objected to the plea, saying, "The passport may not be released to the accused as there is the possibility that he may not attend the court during trial, which may lead to delay in court proceedings at the time of hearing.
"Further, the investigation in the case is in progress".
However, the accused said that "he is a student and has deep roots in society, so there is no apprehension of his fleeing from justice".
The court has now fixed the application for tomorrow and asked the Investigating Officer to remain present.
On November 6 last year, Sarna's friends -- Madhav Bhandari, Pranil Shah, Gambhir and Ritham Girhotra -- all in their 20s and all of whom were accused in the case, were granted bail by the court.
"The Investigating Officer (IO) has failed to produce any incriminating material against the accused persons that they have killed the deceased Anmol Sarna," the court had stated in that order while directing them to furnish a personal bail bond of Rs 1 lakh with a surety of the like amount.
Nine persons were arrested in connection with the case of murder and consumption of narcotics.
Initially, police had arrested six accused persons -- the two security guards -- Surender Bali and Naresh Mishra -- who have been accused of the murder, and the four friends, who have been booked for murder and also under various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The guards were granted bail on October 28, 2013, after the court noted that Sarna's injuries were self-inflicted.
Later, on September 20, 2013, police arrested three more persons for allegedly helping the victim's friends to procure the drugs which were consumed at the party. The trio, too, was granted bail.
The guards had moved their bail pleas soon after the case was handed over to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, which was directed by court to re-investigate the whole matter.