AAP MLA Jarwal's bail plea in doctor suicide case: HC reserves order

A Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait also sought from Delhi Police a status report, including the suicide note and the diary of the deceased by the evening today

The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved its order on the bail petition of Aam Admi Party (AAP) MLA Prakash Jarwal, who was arrested in connection with the suicide of a doctor in the national capital.

A Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, while reserving the order after concluding arguments, also sought from Delhi Police a status report, including the suicide note and the diary of the deceased, by evening today.

Jarwal, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail, is accused of the abetment of suicide of a 52-year-old doctor. His bail plea was earlier dismissed by a trial court.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Jarwal, argued that the suicide note is in different ink, different handwriting and the second portion of suicide note does not bear the signature of the deceased.

There is no previous complaint by the deceased in the last six years, Rebecca submitted highlighting that Jarwal is a three-time MLA.

The lawyer also argued that the wife of the deceased gave one complaint to the DJB just one week before the suicide but there were no allegations of extortion and the name of Jarwal was not mentioned anywhere.
 

The family of the deceased had a motive to implicate Prakash Jarwal as deceased and his son were disengaged from the DJB from carrying out any water tanker activities, Rebecca claimed.

Advocate Ravi Drall, who filed the bail petition, said that the investigation is completed and he has been in judicial custody for over 40 days.

"All work in Deoli constituency (from where Jarwal is an MLA) are pending and the anticipatory bail has also been granted to his real brother Anil Jarwal on June 2, 2020. There are no illegal properties in the name of Prakash Jarwal," Drall said.

Additional pubic prosecutor Hiren Sharma, appearing for Delhi Police, opposed the bail plea saying that considering the dominant position of the accused the chances of the accused influencing the witnesses cannot be ruled out.

The deceased doctor's son, in his complaint to the police, had said that his father supplied water tankers to the Delhi Jan Board (DJB) and was upset because of monetary loss as the accused had demanded money from the victim failing which his payment was stopped. The AAP MLA from Deoli, however, has denied the charges.