Firing at Salman Khan's house: MCOCA court junks 'no criminal antecedents' contention, refuses bail

A special court in Mumbai has denied bail to an alleged member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in connection with last year’s firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence, observing that the absence of prior criminal records does not exempt the accused from charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The bail plea of accused Sonu Chander alias Sonukumar Bishnoi was rejected by Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge Mahesh Jadhav on Friday, details of which were made available on Monday.

The special court held that evidence clearly demonstrates Chander along with other accused and leader of the Bishnoi gang hatched the conspiracy to kill the victim.

As per the relevant provisions of the Act, it is the membership of organized crime syndicate which makes a person liable under MCOCA, the court observed.

The court noted that, as per record, previous chargesheets have been filed against the organized crime syndicate in Rajasthan and New Delhi. In those cases, gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi and Anmol Bishnoi as well other associates hatched conspiracy and committed the offence, the court added.

"Thus the chargesheets against leader of gang Lawrence Bishnoi and his associate Anmol Bishnoi, who are wanted accused in this case, can be taken into consideration. Merely on the ground that there are no criminal antecedents against him, the accused cannot escape from the offences punishable under MCOC Act," the court said.

The applicant failed to satisfy the twin conditions for bail under Section 21(4) of the MCOC Act, and, hence, is not entitled to bail, the court ruled.

The court said the relevant Act requires reasonable grounds for believing the accused is not guilty, and that the accused is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.

Two bike borne individuals, identified as Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, had fired outside actor Salman Khan's Galaxy apartment in Bandra in April last year. Pal, Gupta and Chander are in judicial custody.

Lawrence and Anmol Bishnoi have been shown as wanted accused in the chargesheet filed in the case.

With PTI Inputs