Noida: A district court on Friday refused bail to three persons accused of helping orchestrate the April 13 industrial unrest, holding that the allegations pointed to a serious case of organised violence and releasing them at this stage could affect witnesses and undermine public confidence.Rejecting the pleas of Rupesh Rai, Manisha Chouhan and Himanshu Thakur, additional sessions judge Sunil Kumar-I said the material in the case diary suggested their prima facie involvement and that the incident had wider law-and-order implications in an industrial area.“The evidence available in the case diary indicates the applicant’s prima facie involvement in the crime. The incident is serious in nature, involving gang violence and law and order in the industrial area. In such circumstances, granting bail can potentially lead to influencing witnesses and sending an adverse message to society,” the judge said.The case resulted from an FIR lodged on April 14 by Rajesh Kumar — the HR head of a garments factory — over vandalism, arson and attacks on police personnel and factory guards during the protest a day earlier. The FIR initially named 450 to 500 unidentified people. Police later named seven suspected conspirators, including the three applicants, along with Satyam Verma, Aakriti Choudhary, Aditya Anand and Shrishti Gupta.The case was registered under BNS sections 109(1) (attempt to murder), 191(1)(2)(3) (rioting and armed rioting), 121(2) (causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant), 333 (house-trespass to commit an offence), 125 (act endangering life or personal safety), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult or provocation), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), and provisions of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.During the hearing, the defence dubbed the arrests illegal and argued that Rupesh, an auto driver, had been picked up from Botanical Garden metro station at 7pm on April 11 and was already in custody before the April 13 violence.The prosecution countered this with witness statements. In Rupesh’s case, the court referred to call detail records from April 5 to 10 and statements alleging he helped mobilise people and funds. In Manisha’s case, it noted that two guards identified her and others from photographs and said they were present and instigating the crowd.The bail pleas of the remaining co-accused are likely to come up between May 25 and 27.
