Cops hunt for Ruchika lawyer

Jun 03, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

Chandigarh

Amritsar police officials, who raided the Chandigarh office-cum-residential premises of Mr Pankaj Bhardwaj, the lead counsel representing Ruchika Girhotra’s family and friends in their legal battle against former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore, said the lawyer is wanted in a multi-crore real estate scam.

Interestingly, while police officials claimed he was evading arrest, Mr Bhardwaj who had sought exemption from appearing in Rathore’s bail hearing at the Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday showed up this morning.
“This (the police raid) has been engineered by a lobby of influential police officers and politicians to bring pressure on me to go slow in pursuing the fresh criminal cases against Rathore,” he told reporters insisting the Amritsar land case pertained to 2007 and that he had already joined deposed before investigating officials more than a month ago.
Notably, Mr Bhardwaj is the Girhotra family’s lawyer in all the three new cases wherein the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing a slew of allegations including attempt to murder, abetment to suicide, tampering of evidence and criminal intimidation against Mr Rathore. Rejecting suggestions of any conspiracy, Amritsar police DSP Kirpal Singh said his investigations are in pursuance to a high court directive and pertain to Mr Bhardwaj’s alleged involvement in the fraudulent sale of government land belonging to the Amritsar Improvement Trust.

***

Rathore bail: Order reserved
Age Correspondent
Chandigarh

June 2: The Punjab & Haryana high court has reserved its order on former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore’s bail plea following a detailed hearing on Wednesday.
Arrested and sent to Chandigarh’s Burail high security prison after the district & sessions court confirmed his conviction for molesting 14-year-old schoolgirl Ruchika Girhotra, Rathore has spent more than a week with other rogue cops in a jail.
His wife and counsel, Ms Abha Rathore had applied for bail while challenging the sessions court judgment last Wednesday. Vacation judge Ajay Tewari is expected to pronounce his order on the former cop’s bail petition today.

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