Allahabad HC rejects ex-MLA Jitendra Singh's plea to set aside chargesheet in 2009 case

It also directed the court to release Singh in case he submitted his bonds. In his petition, Singh said he had been arrested in the case and got bail after spending a month in jail.

Allahabad High Court on Thursday declined to set aside the chargesheet against former MLA Jitendra Kumar Singh, accused of setting on fire the house of the then Uttar Pradesh Congress unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi in 2009.

The high court's Lucknow bench, however, granted him liberty to file bonds in the court concerned in the added sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It also directed the court to release Singh in case he submitted his bonds. In his petition, Singh said he had been arrested in the case and got bail after spending a month in jail. He added that under political pressure from Joshi, now a BJP MP, police filed a supplementary chargesheet under sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC.

The bench also directed the court concerned to complete the trial in a year.

A bench of Justice DK Singh passed the order on Singh's petition challenging the chargesheet as well as the entire proceedings of the case.

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