BENGALURU: The Special Court for NDPS cases on Monday rejected bail to actresses Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani, and another accused Rahul Thonse in the Sandalwood drugs case. The anticipatory bail pleas filed by two other absconding accused, Shivaprakash and Vinay Kumar, were also dismissed by the court.The court had reserved the order on the bail petitions for Monday. When the petitions came up for hearing, the judge GM Sheenappa dismissed the petitions, rejecting bail to the accused.
While dismissing the petitions, the court observed that granting bail to the accused at this stage would hamper the ongoing probe in the case. “The prosecution has submitted that the investigation of the case is not yet completed. The police are yet to collect some evidence, both material and digital.
Also, there are chances that the accused, if enlarged on bail, would tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses and hamper the probe. There are a few more accused involved and they would be alerted by the accused in custody if granted bail,” the court observed, before rejecting bail to Ragini, Sanjjanaa and Thonse.
The defence counsel representing the accused have decided to approach the Karnataka High Court and challenge the order.Kannada film actor Ragini Dwivedi was arrested on September 4 by the Central Crime Branch, after she appeared before the investigation officer for enquiry in the case. She was the first actor to be arrested in the case, while Sanjjanaa Galrani was arrested on September 8, following a police raid on her residence the same day. Both are currently held at Bengaluru Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara.