Prayagraj (UP), Dec 21: The Allahabad High Court has granted interim anticipatory bail to former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand in a rape case till the next date of hearing and directed the victim and the state government to file their replies within four weeks.
Justice Samit Gopal passed the order on Monday after hearing Senior Advocate Anoop Trivedi, counsel for petitioner Swami Chinmayanand.
He submitted that Swami Chinmayanand is a 75-year-old man and has been falsely implicated in the case. Chinmayanand does not have any criminal history. The former MP is also running several medical and educational institutions and is a person of high political and spiritual value, Trivedi said.
Additional Advocate General MC Chaturvedi and Additional Government Advocate AK Sand opposed the bail application on behalf of the state government.
Chinamayanand is accused of raping the victim, by taking her hostage in his ashram in the year 2011.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
