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Bengaluru City Civil and Sessions court rejected bail for former Congress leader Mohammed Nalapad Harris, on Friday.IANS

The bail plea of Mohammed Nalapad Haris, former general secretary of the Bengaluru city Youth Congress and son of Congress MLA NA Haris, was rejected on Friday.

Bengaluru's City Civil and Sessions Court also refused the bail plea of six accomplices of Nalapad, identified as Arun Babu (28), Manjunath (31), Mohammed Afras Ashraf (23), Balakrishna (25), Abhishek (23) and Nafi Mohammed Nasir.

They are all accused of assaulting 24-year-old Vidwath Loganathan.

"There are clearly prima facie ingredients of Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code," the court ruled.

Nalapad and his aides have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the severest of which is Section 307 (attempt to murder), which is a non-bailable offense. The strictest punishment a person convicted under this section can get is imprisonment for life.

Judge B Parameshwara Prasanna of the LXII Additional City Civil and Sessions Court observed that there has been no positive recovery in the condition of the victim even after he was shifted from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Mallya hospital to the ward.

The judge also reprimanded Nalapad and his aides and said: "By considering the nature of accusations against [the] petitioner, nature of evidence in support thereof, the nature of injuries sustained by the victim, pendency of further investigation, reasonable apprehension of witnesses being tampered with and the larger interest of the public and State, I am of the considered opinion that the petitioner is not entitled for bail at least till the completion of investigation." 

Nalapad's bail plea had been based on a counter-complaint was filed by one of Nalapad's aides named Arun, alleging that Vidwath was drunk and had assaulted him on the night of February 17. However, Vidwath's medical reports have already shown that he wasn't in an inebriated state.

Mohammed Nalapad's lawyer had objected to the charge of attempt to murder and had claimed that these charges were included due to "political motivation and to tarnish the image of Mohammed's father."

In response, the court on Friday said: "Even though, in the complaint no specific overt act of assault is attributed to the petitioner [Nalapad], the specific overt act of assault on victim [Vidwath] by hand before assault by other assailants on his command has been attributed to the petitioner in the further statement of the complainant and in the statement of other witnesses."

Will approach HC, say lawyers

S Balan, who is defending Nalapad's six aides in court, meanwhile said he will on Monday approach the Karnataka High Court seeking interim bail.

"I am going to challenge this in the High Court while moving an interim petition," said Balan, adding: "There are many loopholes in the case, and moreover the whole issue has been politicized."

Nalapad's lawyer Tomy Sebastian also said: "There are many points which need to be reconsidered, which we will challenge in the High Court."

nalapad haris
Mohammed Nalapad being taken to a hospital ahead of being produced before a court, in Bengaluru on Feb 21, 2018.IANS

While a large section of social media users hailed the court's decision, a few others accused Nalapad of owning illegal weapons, and others leveled communal accusations against him.

A few even raised questions on TEDx speakers, given that Nalapad had been invited to one such talk.

Many also hailed Vidwath's father's decision to reject the offer of reconciliation from Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Here are the Twitter reactions:

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