Bail denied to fraud accused

Legal Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 3

The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Jagdeep Singh Marok has dismissed the anticipatory bail application moved by Avinash Kumar aka John Bains, head of Hand to Hand, an NGO, a resident of Naya Mohalla, Ludhiana, He is facing accusations of engaging daily wagers to collect money in the name of donations for hospitalised patients and duping people.

The collected money did not reach the patients or their families.

Dismissing the bail, the court held that the custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary to take the investigation to its logical conclusion and burst the entire illegal racket of collecting money from the public at large on the pretext of treatment of patients by engaging poor people at low wages for the services having being rendered by them.

A case against the suspect was registered under Sections 420 and 120-B on July 22, 2020, at the Division No 8 police station on the statement of Sukhwinder Singh. He had told the police that his nephew met with an accident and was hospitalised at the DMCH.

“I never told the suspects to collect money on my nephew’s name from passers-by at chowks and no money collected as donation reached them,” he said.

Additional public prosecutor Dinesh Verma has opposed the bail plea with the submissions that Avinash, along with prime accused Honey Singh, was actively involved in cheating people. They were engaging poor people on daily wages to dupe people and money never reached the patients.

However, the suspect had pleaded that he was a social worker and helping those persons whose kith and kin were hospitalised and needed financial assistance. He has also submitted that he had estranged relations with Honey Singh when the present FIR was registered and they were working separately.

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