Delhi HC denies bail to woman who threatened differently-abled man

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to a woman, who allegedly demanded Rs 5 crore from a bedridden differently-abled man and threatened to kill him and kidnap his school-going daughters, noting that the allegations against her are "serious" in nature.

A single judge of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, while dismissing the anticipatory bail last week, said that the custodial interrogation of the accused is required for recovery of the mobile phone of the petitioner to establish whether she was on a conference call with co-accused Gauri Kant Dixit and complainant.

The accused, Bharati Khanna, was booked under Sections 387 (putting person in fear to commit extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts by several for common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Khanna is accused of conspiring with Dixit, who called one Vijay Singh Chauhan, a resident of South Delhi's Neb Sarai area, on March 9 and asked for Rs 5 crore. They allegedly threatened to kill him and kidnap his daughters from the school if the amount was not given.

Chauhan said that he got scared when the caller gave accurate details about his daughters and their school and contacted the police.

The caller also informed that they received the information from Khanna, who happened to be a former employee of the complainant during 2016-2017.

According to Chauhan, both Khanna and Dixit were on the line during the threatening call, during which an argument broke out and the latter misbehaved with the complainant's wife and used abusive language.