Bail Plea of ABA of Cong Candidate Who Withdrew from Indore LS Fray Rejected in 17-Year-Old Case

It also ordered Bam and his father Kantilal to appear before a sessions court on May 10.

A sessions court in Madhya Pradesh's Indore on Friday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Akshay Kanti Bam, who had withdrawn as Congress Lok Sabha candidate, and his father in a 17-year-old case.

Bam withdrew the nomination paper from Indore Lok Sabha seat on April 29 and later joined the BJP.

Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar Sharma, after hearing arguments of both the parties, rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of Bam and his father Kantilal.

''There is no possibility of arrest of the accused in this case. Therefore, the provisions of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) don't apply,'' the court said.

In the present circumstances of the case, the accused should appear before the court and take part in the further proceedings, the court said.

If they deem it necessary, they may submit regular bail application in the case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 307 (attempt to murder), the court added.

On April 24, barely five days before Bam decided to withdraw his nomination from Indore Lok Sabha seat, an attempt to murder charge under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 307 was added in a 17-year-old land grabbing case against Bam, his father and some others.

The FIR was registered over an incident that took place on October 4, 2007, while the application seeking adding of section 307 was filed on April 5 this year.

Bam, Kantilal and some others are accused of assaulting one Yunus Patel over a land dispute, after which they were charged under IPC sections 294 (use of obscene words, abusive), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

However, in his application filed on April 5 in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) here, Patel alleged one Satveer Singh, who operated a security agency, fired at him from a .12 bore gun on the behest of Kantilal. The court accepted the plea on April 24 and directed the police to add the attempt to murder charge to the FIR. It also ordered Bam and his father Kantilal to appear before a sessions court on May 10.