New Delhi: A man, arrested in a high-profile sex racket case allegedly involving a cocktail of defence personnel, government servants and women from Central Asian countries, has been granted bail by Delhi High Court.
A Russian woman, who was allegedly confined and rescued from his residence after the Income Tax raid, did not oppose his bail plea in the high court.
62-year-old businessman Pritindra Nath Sanyal, who had allegedly sent messages to public servants and other senior officials posing as various MPs and bureaucrats to get favours in some business deals, was given the relief by the court relying on the no-objection given by the woman.
The 23-year-old foreigner, allegedly rescued from Sanyal's residence in the posh Safdarjung Enclave area here during a raid by income tax officials, told Justice S P Garg that she was living there on her own will and the accused had not confined her.
On July 11, the court had granted bail to Sanyal's alleged accomplice, Col (Retd) Ajay Ahlawat, who was purportedly seen with two Indian cricketers in photographs claimed to have been recovered by the police.
The court granted bail to Sanyal on a personal bond of Rs one lakh with one surety of the like amount besides directing him to surrender his passport and not to travel abroad without permission.
The court also took into account the application filed by the Russian woman before a trial court seeking release of her passport, in which she had contended that she was residing in Sanyal's house of her own free will.
Sanyal had approached the high court challenging the trial court's July 30 order dismissing his bail plea.
A case was registered against Sanyal at the Safdarjung Enclave Police Station in South Delhi on July 20 and he was arrested the same day.
Police had said that Sanyal was arrested after documents indicating his involvement in the illegal activity were found during raids at his residences by IT authorities.
Copies of passports of other foreign women as well as phone numbers of dozens of women belonging to Central Asian countries, were also recovered from his residence, the investigators had told the court.
The matter came to fore after Sanyal's residences in Safdarjung Enclave and Vasant Kunj here, as also in Lucknow, were raided by Income Tax authorities in June.
Police had claimed that SMSes and WhatsApp data from the woman's mobile phone indicated she was being kept against her will and her travel documents, including passport, were allegedly taken away by the accused.
