New Delhi (PTI): Aaftab Amin Poonawala, accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces, Saturday informed a court here that he had signed on the vakalatnama but was not aware a bail petition would be filed on his behalf.

The accused appeared before Additional Sessions Judge Vrinda Kumari through video-conferencing.

"I would like the counsel to talk to me and then withdraw the bail plea," Poonawala said, replying to an inquiry by the judge on whether he intended to withdraw the application.

The judge said the bail application would be kept pending and only after the accused meets the counsel, it would be decided whether the plea would be pressed or not.

The court posted the matter for further proceedings on December 22.

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Bengaluru, Jan 14: The Karnataka High Court has quashed the criminal proceedings against Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi in a drug case, saying the prosecution could not substantiate the charges with material evidence.

The bench of Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar also quashed the proceedings against the co-accused Prashant Ranka.

It said, "However, to substantiate the charges against the petitioners, the prosecution has not produced any material evidence to prove that the petitioners organized parties or sold drugs, apart from the voluntary statements of the co-accused and chargesheet witnesses."

"Therefore, the continuation of the criminal proceedings against the petitioners will be an abuse of the legal process of law,” Justice Chandanagoudar observed.

Ragini was among the many celebrities from the Kannada film industry arrested in September 2020.

A case was registered against her at the Cottonpet police station based on a statement by a co-accused B K Ravishankar on September 4, 2020.

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