Cuttack: Orissa High Court Wednesday rejected anticipatory bail plea filed by Odia singer Sourin Bhatt in connection with a harassment case lodged against him by a woman from Cuttack.
A single bench of Justice Chittaranjan Dash while refusing to grant the pre-arrest bail to the singer said the case requires an investigation with active presence of the petitioner.
“This Court does not find the case to be fit for grant of pre-arrest bail. Keeping in view the nature of allegations as emerged from the materials on record, the circumstances appearing, the seriousness and gravity of the offences, this court is not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the Petitioner. The prayer for bail accordingly stands rejected,” the court order read.
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The court had August 26 completed the hearing and reserved the verdict.
Earlier, the Orissa High Court had granted interim protection to the playback singer till August 25.
Sourin had moved the high court seeking anticipatory bail claiming that the allegations levelled against him were baseless.
Notably, the woman had filed an FIR against Sourin at Mahila Police Station in Cuttack June 12, 2023 accusing him of false promises of marriage, cheating, torture and exploitation.
As per the FIR, the woman, who is an employee in a private bank, came in contact with Sourin in 2015. He and the woman had been in a relationship for the past several years. Subsequently, Sourin allegedly turned out to be a trickster and deceived the woman.
The FIR further read that Sourin had been harassing the woman both physically and mentally on the promise of marrying her and giving her a break in the entertainment industry. Besides, Sourin had also taken Rs 10 lakh from her.
Later, the statement of the victim woman was recorded before Magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
A team of cops from Commissionerate Police went to Kolkata June 21 to contact Sourin Bhatt at his residence and carry out a probe into the alleged harassment. However, they did not find any trace of the singer and returned to Odisha empty-handed.
Acting on the FIR, police had registered a case (No-78/2023) in this connection under Sections 294, 323, 341, 376, 417, 493 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.
PNN