BENGALURU: In a setback to Shridhar K Pujar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Internal Security Division, Eastern Range, Davanagere, an accused in the Bitcoin scam who is absconding, the city civil and sessions court on Wednesday rejected his anticipatory bail petition in connection with his alleged attempt to murder an assistant sub-inspector, who was part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Criminal Investigation Department probing the scam, when he went to arrest him, along with a police inspector.
LV Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Shriram Narayan Hegde noted that the custodial interrogation of the accused is necessary since the allegations made against him in the Bitcoin and attempt-to-murder cases are serious.
Pujar stated in his bail petition that the car mentioned in the complaint did not belong to him. The public prosecutor has, however, produced a B-Register extract of the vehicle which was registered in the name of Pujar’s wife along with the CCTV footage of the incident to show his involvement.
The court said the prosecution’s apprehension cannot be ruled out as the accused, being a high-ranking police officer, could tamper with prosecution witnesses.
Pujar contended that he is continuously cooperating with the SIT by appearing before it more than 15 times. Pujar had no intention to murder the complainant who didn’t suffer any grievous injuries, he stated. But the Vidhana Soudha police, along with the SIT, have created the false story. During his service, he arrested murderers and gangsters and some enemies are now hand in glove with the police, he alleged.
Referring to the observations made by another city court while rejecting Pujar’s anticipatory bail petition in the Bitcoin scam that there are prima facie materials against him, the court said Pujar has not appeared before the investigation officer even after the dismissal of his petition.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Bhaskar filed the complaint with the Vidhana Soudha police against Pujar on February 27, 2024, alleging that when he went near the City Civil Court along with Inspector Anil Kumar, accused Pujar, who was in the car with an advocate, abused them in filthy language. He suddenly dashed his car against the motorbike of the complainant who fell down. When they chased him till Coffee Board junction, Pujar, to commit the murder, allegedly drove his car rashly which led to the complainant hitting the other vehicles, resulting in injuries.
Provide video meet facilities to prisoners, says HC
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court directed the state government to develop a vibrant video-conferencing facility at all prisons to enable undertrial prisoners and convicts to interact with the counsel representing them or family members. To ensure privacy, the court also directed the state government to provide headphones to the inmates and to the other person to avoid breach of privacy in prisons. If the proposed system is already put in place, it shall be seen by the state that it works without any glitch, the court added. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order, while declining to accept the request of the petition filed by 11 accused in RSS worker Praveen Nettaru’s murder in Mangaluru in 2022, seeking directions to the IGP of the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services to transfer them from different jails to Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru, considering their representation dated March 21, 2023.