New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS): Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda, an accused in a case related to the suicide of a former air hostess, was Thursday granted interim bail by a Delhi court after a year, so he could attend the state assembly session.
Additional Sessions Judge M.C. Gupta granted bail to Kanda till Oct 4. Kanda represents Sirsa constituency in the Haryana assembly.
The court asked Kanda to furnish a personal bond of Rs.5 lakh and a surety of like amount.
Kanda had earlier moved the interim bail application so he could attend the assembly session.
"He is a legislator from Sirsa, which is a big constituency. He has to perform many obligations and welfare activities for his people. Funds for his constituency are lying unutilised. The public is suffering," Kanda's lawyer said.
Kanda has been in custody for almost 13 months.
Delhi police had opposed Kanda's interim bail, saying there was reasonable apprehension that he would tamper with evidence.
"In February, there was a session of the Haryana assembly. When Kanda did not feel the need to seek bail for attending that session, why is he seeking it now? There is reasonable apprehension that he could tamper with evidence," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor added that eight prosecution witnesses had been examined, and many of them were either current or former employees of Kanda.
Kanda and his aide Aruna Chaddha were accused of abetting the suicide of a 23-year-old former air hostess. Both Kanda and Chaddha have denied the allegations.
In a note, the suicide victim accused Kanda and Chaddha of harassing her and forcing her to kill herself. She died on the intervening night of Aug 4-5, 2012, at her house in Delhi.
Kanda was charged with rape, abetment of rape, abetment of suicide, criminal conspiracy and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and under the Information Technology Act for hacking computers and sending offensive or false messages.
He was arrested Aug 18, 2012, after he surrendered before the police in north Delhi's Ashok Vihar area.