Court denies anticipatory bail to Rathore, arrest any time

NEW DELHI: Paving the way for former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore’s arrest in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, a Panchkula court on Friday dismissed his anticipatory bail plea.

Two fresh FIRs had been registered against Rathore on December 29 under non-bailable charges like forgery, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder and concealing of the evidence.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Sanjeev Jindal dismissed the bail plea filed by Rathore after these two FIRS. Rathore had got interim relief on January 1 from the court till Friday on his bail plea in the matter pertaining to the two FIRs.

After the dismissal of the bail plea, Rathore’s wife, who is his counsel, said they would move the high court to seek relief.

The court also rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Haryana police official Sewa Singh, a sub-inspector posted at Pinjore near Panchkula, who has also been accused of implicating Ruchika’s brother Ashu in false cases of car theft, allegedly at Rathore’s behest.

It is now up to the Haryana police to arrest him. The Haryana police had recommended to the Centre that the fresh cases, including a third FIR charging Rathore of abetting Ruchika to commit suicide, be handed over to CBI.

Convicted 19 years after he had molested Ruchika, a 14-year-old budding tennis player, Rathore, the then inspector general of police, was convicted by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court here on December 21 and sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000.

The dismissal of the bail plea comes a day after a magisterial inquiry by the Chandigarh administration indicted Ruchika’s school, Sacred Heart School, and its principal for her expulsion on grounds of non-payment of fee in 1990.