Police fail to file reply, bail plea hearing today

Mohali, September 29

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The Kharar court has adjourned hearing in the case pertaining to the bail application of suspect Rankaj Verma in the Chandigarh University video “leak” case to September 30 as the police failed to file their reply. Rankaj’s counsel said they had been told the police had not filed their reply and the hearing had been deferred for Friday.

Girl ‘changing’ statements

• The girl suspect has been changing statements during interrogation by the SIT, say sources
• SIT has interrogated three male suspects together but all have been giving vague statements

He claimed Rankaj had no role in the case and had been inadvertently arrested by the police. He said his client was not even aware his ID was being used by Sanjeev Singh, an Army man arrested from Arunachal Pradesh, to chat with the accused girl. The police remand of four accused, including Rankaj, ends on Saturday.

On the other hand, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) is awaiting the forensic report for further probe.

Besides Rankaj, the police have arrested 23-year-old Rohru resident Sunny Mehta, a CU girl student and Army man Sanjeev in the case registered under Sections 354-C of IPC and the IT Act after protests erupted amid allegations of videos of students being made in the hostel washroom. The CU authorities have dismissed the allegations as “false and baseless”. Rankaj’s sister has already claimed her brother was not guilty as he was not aware of any such video being shared with Sanjeev. Moreover, her brother was not known to Sanjeev.

However, the SIT said the girl suspect had been changing her statements. Sources said the SIT had interrogated Sanjeev, Sunny and Rankaj together but all had been giving vague statements.