The Bombay High Court today extended till June 15, 2014 the temporary bail granted to real estate developer Vinod Asrani, an accused in the journalist Jyotirmoy Dey murder case, as he is to undergo a liver transplant operation.
The bail was extended by the division bench of Justices P V Hardas and P N Deshmukh.
This is the second time his bail was extended.
Asrani's lawyers Ramrao Adik and Yogesh Dandekar argued that Asrani was finding it difficult to get liver donor, his liver had completely failed, and kidneys were damaged.
The lawyers produced certificates from six major hospitals in the city to establish that Asrani needed a liver transplant. The certificates had been verified by the Government and the prosecution did not object to the plea.
Asrani alias Vinod Chembur, charged with conspiring with others to kill Dey, got bail on December 12 last year after he pleaded that he needed treatment; it was extended on May 6 after he informed that he required a liver transplant.
In August 2013, the High Court dismissed Asrani's plea for discharge from the case, observing that there was prima facie evidence against him.
Asrani is accused of calling Dey to a suburban hotel some days before the murder, so that the killers could see him. The journalist was shot dead here on June 11, 2011, allegedly by the Chhota Rajan gang.
