The Supreme Court today upheld the Hyderabad High Court’s decision to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to Bollywood producer Karim Morani, accused of raping an aspiring actress.
The Hyderabad High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, on September 5, had held as valid the lower court’s order to cancel Morani’s anticipatory bail on grounds of concealment of the fact that he has been facing criminal trial in the 2G scam case and was in jail for several months.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said it would not interfere with the order of the High Court.
The bench did not grant 2-3 days time sought by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, the counsel for Morani, for surrender, and asked him to surrender at the Telangana jail. The High Court had asked him to surrender today.
Rohatgi raised the issue of belated filing of the FIR, and that too at Rangareddy District in Telangana, and said it was not the case of grant of bail but rather one of unjust cancellation of the anticipatory bail.
The bench, while dismissing the appeal, however, said the courts below would remain uninfluenced of the observations and orders passed by the High Court and the Supreme Court while dealing with subsequent regular bail plea of Morani.
It was alleged that Morani had sedated the woman and raped her several times, took her nude photos between July 2015 and January 2016.
The sessions court at Telangana had initially granted anticipatory bail to Morani on January 30 this year and later, cancelled it after being told that the producer had concealed in his bail plea his involvement in the 2G case and the fact that he was in jail in connection with the corruption matter.
( Source – PTI )
