Court denies anticipatory bail to AAP leader in gangrape case

A local AAP leader, who along with party MLA Rakhi Birla's father was accused of gangraping a 24 -year-old woman on the pretext of giving her a ticket for MCD polls, was today denied anticipatory bail by a Delhi court.
The court denied the relief to Ram Pratap Goyal saying his custodial interrogation was required not only for locating the alleged MMS of the married woman but also to identify the places where she was ravished.
"Although nothing adverse in respect of the antecedents of applicant has been stated on behalf of prosecution, yet the probability of investigation getting hampered and witnesses tampered cannot be ruled out, taking into account the position held by the applicant (Goyal).

"This court is not persuaded to accord pre-arrest bail to the applicant. His application, therefore, is dismissed," Additional Sessions Judge Sunil K Aggarwal said.
Recently Goyal, who is AAP's block treasurer in Rohini, and Bhupender, father of Delhi Assembly Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla, were booked by Delhi Police under of sections 376D (gangrape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
The court noted that the woman got in touch with a party official and on being promised that she will get the ticket, she did not "strictly oppose" their advances.

When she realised that she was being used by Goyal and others for enjoyment and blackmailed on the threat of making her sexual MMS viral, the woman lodged the case, it said.

Goyal sought anticipatory bail saying he was implicated due to political motives and the case was lodged to tarnish his image and that of the party. He claimed that on the day of alleged incident, he was at a religious place in Haryana.
The police and complainant's counsel Pradeep Rana opposed the plea, saying the woman was preparing to contest the next election in Delhi from the party to which Goyal belonged and was exploited.
The advocate said the plea of alibi by the accused cannot be considered at the state of anticipatory bail.
According to the woman, Goyal and Bhupender established physical relation with her on the promise of giving her party ticket for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.

The complainant told police that she met Goyal at Sector 3, Rohini in north-west Delhi and exchanged numbers. They remained in touch for nearly 4-5 months and was promised a party ticket for the MCD elections.
She said Goyal called her near his office one day to talk about the ticket and took her to a vacant flat of his friend and established physical relations, police said.
As per the woman, she was "exploited" by the accused at various places, including hotels and her own house, and when she asked him about the ticket, he coaxed her to have sexual relations with Bhupender.

She alleged in her complaint that she was forced to sleep with Bhupender at her house and at a hotel in Connaught Place on November 5, police said, adding that the accused made an MMS of the crime and threatened to ruin her life.