The sole accused in software engineer Antara Das' murder, Santosh Kumar Gupta, was granted bail today by a court here after the police failed to file charge sheet in the case within the stipulated 90 days.
While granting bail to Gupta, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) H Y Kawale also issued show cause notice to the investigation officer of the case as to why the chargesheet was not filed within the stipulated period.
The court also demanded to know from him as to why he should not be held responsible for "disregard" of his duty to file the chargesheet in the case in time.
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"The IO should file his clarification with supporting affidavit within 15 days from the receipt of this order.
"If he fails to do so, it will be deemed that the IO has nothing to say and necessary legal steps will be taken against him," said the order.
Kawale ordered Gupta's release on bail on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and directed him to report to the Dehu Road police station, where the case has been registered, every Sunday till the charge-sheet is filed.
The court, however, allowed the cops to conduct narco-test on Gupta and directed the accused to appear in the concerned laboratory for the test.
Gupta, a software professional, working in Bengaluru, was arrested by the Pune district police for his alleged role in the murder of 23-year-old Das, who had been stabbed to death by an unidentified person near Kanbay chowk in Talawade on the outskirts of Pune on December 23 night, barely 500 metres from her workplace, Capgemini.
While seeking Gupta's custody his arrest, the police had told the court that the accused, who had been stalking and harassing Antara, had hatched a conspiracy with the attacker to kill her after she had spurned him.
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