A sessions court has declined to grant temporary bail plea to Siddhesh Patil, a co-accused in the 2018 abduction and murder case of Ghatkopar diamond merchant Rajeshwar Udani.
Additional Sessions Judge RM Sadrani has said in his order that Patil is facing trial for the offences of murder, kidnapping to murder and criminal conspiracy, among other offences.
The court noted that the allegation against him is that he, with the help of other accused abducted deceased Rajeshwar Udani to cause his murder by laying a honey trap and then murdered him. “Considering the seriousness of the offence, the applicant is not entitled for the grant of temporary bail,” judge Sadrani said, adding that there is nothing on record to show that Patil has any disease that makes him vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.
The court also considered the overall facts and circumstances of the case while denying him bail.
Recently, two other co-accused Pranit Bhoir and Mahesh Bhoir, including the prime accused Sachin Pawar, had sought interim bail on grounds of the pandemic.
As per the prosecution case, Pawar had roped in others to murder Udani as the jeweller was showing interest in his partner and television actor Devoleena Bhattacharjee. Also, there were financial disputes between the two as Pawar owed him money.
Udani’s son had initially registered a missing complaint with the police on Nov 29, 2018 as his father, who had left from office with his driver, had not reached home.
The driver upon inquiry, had told Udani’s son that his father had got down from their car and had entered another car near Vikhroli junction close to Eastern Express Highway. After a few days, a body was found near Dehrang Dam in Raigad by Panvel police, which the son identified as his father’s. The post-mortem report had shown that Rajeshwar Udani had died of suffocation and strangulation, his nasal bone fractured. Police claim he was smothered with a birthday cake after being lured using a honey trap - a young girl, also in jail now.
