Alcor Hotel owner Rajiv Duggal and six others have been granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court late on Monday afternoon, but they are not likely to be released from the central jail before Thursday.
Apart from Duggal (64), businessmen Sarad Poddar, Laddu Mangotia, Raju Bhalotia, Rahul Aghrawal, Deepak Agrawal, and Alcor Hotel manager Dhananjay Singh have been lodged in the Ghaghidih Central Jail for the past 65 days.The accused aren’t likely to be released before Thursday.
Rajat Jaggi, another businessman who was arrested, did not find his bail petition moved in time for hearing. The 25-year-old girl who was found in the hotel was granted bail from the district and session court in Jamshedpur earlier on June 1.
All of the accused were arrested for allegedly indulging in a case registered under Section 3 of the Immoral Traffic Act by Bistupur police on April 26.
Advocate Sudhir Kumar, pleading on behalf of Raju Bhalotia, said that the High Court granted bail to the seven accused on the same ground as the girl.
"The police did not provide any substantial evidence, leading the district and sessions judge to grant bail to the girl. The High Court has also granted bail to the seven of the remaining eight accused on similar footing," Kumar told The Telegraph Online.
He further said, "though the Jharkhand High Court granted bail to the seven accused on Monday, it will take another two to three days for their release due to paperwork."
Acting on a tip off, police raided Alcor Hotel on the evening of April 25, and found a group of three businessmen busy at the hotel spa, leading them to arrest all on the charge of lockdown violation.
The then OC of the Bistupur thana, Rajesh Prakash Sinha had released the three, RK Mangotia, Rajat Jaggie and Deepak Agrawal on PR bond the same night. But after pressure mounted by a section of local media the then senior SP Anoop Birtharay ordered a fresh investigation into the case.
The police discovered that several other people, mostly businessmen, used to visit the hotel during the lockdown for merry making. The police also found a 23-year-old girl from one of the hotel rooms. It was also found out that she shared a relationship with Sharad Poddar, a businessman who owns four mini-steel plants located in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
The police subsequently scanned CCTV footage of all the 69 rooms of the hotel and found that several other people, including the three who were released on PR bond, used to visit the place for the girl who was brought from Calcutta. The police finally arrested seven people, including the hotel owner Rajiv Duggal and the girl under the Immoral Traffic Act.
Police maintain that several other bigwigs, including some senior officials of the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd (JBVNL), were regular visitors at the Bistupur-based hotel for merry-making. They are certain to face police action once the DVR report comes.
Meanwhile, DSP (CCR) Arvind Kumar said that a DVR ( digital video recorder), sent to the Ranchi-based forensic science laboratory (FSL), was returned on Tuesday.
"The FSL, Ranchi is overburdened and hence the concerned authorities have returned the DVR. We are arranging to send the same DVR to a forensic lab in Ahmedabad shortly," Kumar told The Telegraph Online.
