Delhi hotel brawl: Ashish Pandey's bail plea dismissed

A Delhi court (session court) on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea filed by Ashish Pandey, son of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Member of Parliament (MP) Rakesh Pandey, in connection with his alleged involvement in a five-star hotel brawl in the national capital recently.

A video that went viral showed Ashish brandishing a gun on October 14 in the brawl.

The development comes a day after the Patiala House Court extended the judicial custody of Ashish by 14 days. The Delhi police formally arrested him after he surrendered before the Patiala House Court on October 18. However, earlier his bail plea was dismissed by the magistrate court on October 19.

The Delhi police earlier produced him before Duty Magistrate Sumit Anand and sought a remand of two more days to determine if there were any financial transactions that took place between Ashish and the three women who accompanied him in the car. The police had said that they needed to find out who all met and helped Ashish during the period when he was absconding.

Counsel for Ashish had said that he had taken out the gun at the spur of the moment and is entitled to keep a weapon for the safety of the people around him and himself. Ashish, too, cited the same argument.

"Ashish Pandey only brought the weapon from the car because he felt threatened and for the safety of the women around him, and Ashish had enough self-control not to use the weapon while he argued," the counsel added.