Chandigarh, Jan. 25: Former Haryana DGP S.P.S. Rathore was on Monday granted interim bail in two of three fresh cases charging him with attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, forgery, fabrication of records and illegal confinement.
But the relief for Rathore, convicted for molesting teenage Chandigarh schoolgirl Ruchika Girhotra (who later committed suicide), is temporary and valid only until February 15, the date of the next hearing on his pleas for anticipatory bail in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Handing down her interim order, Justice Sabina granted Rathore benefit of a four-day notice from the CBI if it sought to arrest him in connection with the third FIR, charging him with driving Ruchika to suicide (Section 306 IPC: abetment to suicide). She, however, referred it to a division bench.
Investigations first initiated by the police in Panchkula, Haryana, on complaints from Ruchika’s father and brother, were later transferred to the CBI on all three FIRs. The agency, which has constituted a special 30-member team to work on the case, filed its response to Rathore’s bail plea in two FIRs but sought three weeks to respond to the charge under Section 306.
CBI counsel Anmol Rattan Sidhu, who opposed bail, said investigations were time-consuming and laborious since the events had occurred between 16 and 19 years ago.
Asit Jolly