2012 Guj elections firing case: HC releases BJP MLA on bail

Justice Anant S Dave, while ordering the authorities to release Bharwad on bail, also directed BJP MLA not to enter Panchmahals district for three months, as part of the condition on which he has been granted bail.

Four persons were injured on December 17 last year during the second phase of polling in Gujarat, when Bharwad allegedly opened fire in Tarsang village.

In the FIR registered after the incident, Bharwad was charged for attempt to murder for allegedly opening fire at the people gathered at the polling station, from his bodyguard's weapon.

Bharwad was the BJP candidate from Sahera in Panchmahal district and had later won the election.

In his petition in the High Court, the MLA contended that his bodyguard had fired from his weapon in the air and that too in self-defence to disperse the mob.

"As per the medical reports all four persons who were injured in the incidence had not sustained any bullet injuries and this was a clear evidence that charges of attempted murder was uncalled for," his advocate P M Thakkar had argued in the court.

Bharwad was was also injured in the alleged stone pelting on December 17 and admitted in a private hospital in Godhra.

He, along with his bodyguard and five others, was booked for attempt to murder on December 18. Bharwad was detained while undergoing treatment for head injuries.

Bharwad had escaped from Apollo Hospital in Ahmedabad where he was brought for undergoing a CT scan procedure. He was later apprehended after the Godhra court rejected his anticipatory bail plea.

The Sessions Court, on January 8, had also rejected his regular bail application following which Bharwad had moved the High Court.