Port Blair: The former chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jitendra Narain was granted bail by the Port Blair circuit bench of the Calcutta High Court Monday in the rape case filed by a 21-year-old woman.
The bench of Justice Chittaranjan Dash and Justice Md Nizamuddin granted conditional bail to Narain.
Advocate Pathick Chandra Das, who represented the rape survivor, told PTI he was moving Supreme Court against the bail order.
“Narain was given conditional bail. Among the conditions are he cannot enter Andaman and Nicobar Islands unless called for, he will not use officers to influence the witness, he cannot make phone calls to any officers and the victim party, he will deposit his passport and cannot leave India,” Das said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing the allegations that the woman was lured to the chief secretary’s residence on the promise of a government job and then allegedly raped by multiple persons, including Narain.
Narain was arrested November 10 last year after an FIR was registered October 1 when he was posted as chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation. The government suspended him October 17.
The SIT headed by Monika Bhardwaj filed a 935-page charge sheet in the case February 3.
The charge sheet against Narain, businessman Sandeep Singh alias Rinku and suspended labour commissioner Rishishwarlal Rishi was based on the statements of nearly 90 witnesses, forensic science reports and electronic evidence, police said.
The accused have been charged under IPC sections 376 (punishment for rape), 376C (intercourse by superintendent of jail, remand home, etc), 376D (intercourse by any member of the management or staff of a hospital), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).
The charge sheet also mentions IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 500 (defamation) and 228A (disclosure of identity of the victim of certain offences).
It was alleged in the charge sheet that Narain misused his position to destroy evidence at his official residence last year.
PTI