Mumbai: A sessions court on Friday granted bail to Diya Padalkar (19), accused in the murder case of Jhanvi Kukreja on New years eve last year. The court, however, rejected the bail application of her friend and co-accused Shree Jogdhankar (21).
In his bail plea filed through advocate Ashok Mishra in April, Padalkar had alleged that the Khar police had deliberately planted evidence to link her to the crime.
Referring to the chargesheet filed in the case, the plea had stated that the prosecution’s case is that a bedsheet and pillow were found from the party host Yash Ahuja’s home with blood stains, with the DNA sample matching with that of Jhanvi and Diya. It contended that the bedsheet was contaminated by the police to link Diya to the crime.
Shree, in his bail application filed in early May, had said that he was himself brutally assaulted by some persons at the New Year’s party. He was under the influence of alcohol and he could not remember who all assaulted him and that out of severe pain and fear he had left the spot to save his life. There is a strong possibility, he had said, that there was a third person or persons who may be assailants of the deceased and there is a strong possibility he got injured while trying to save her.
The Khar police in its response to Shree's plea had pointed out that he had not revealed who these persons were nor the reason for the assault. Diya and her friend Shree Jogdhankar have been charged with murder of their common friend Jhanvi Kukreja. The chargesheet states that Jhanvi, who was romantically involved with Shree, had confronted the duo after seeing Shree get physical with Diya at the party. A fight had ensued in which the duo had violently assaulted her, with her fighting back. It was their banging her head on a staircase railing that she had suffered a skull fracture, resulting in death.
