Noida: Allahabad high court granted conditional bail to Vipin, accused of murder and criminal conspiracy in his wife Nikki Bhati’s death case. While approving the bail application on Oct 6, Justice Sameer Jain ruled that the applicant be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned.Nikki died of burn injuries at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on Aug 21 last year, following which an FIR was filed with Kasna police station by her sister Kanchan, accusing her husband and three other family members of conspiring and setting her on fire. All four members, including Vipin, were arrested. The family members were released on bail by the high court, but Vipin continued to remain in jail since the day of his arrest on Aug 24, 2025.“The applicant shall appear before the trial court on the dates fixed, unless his personal presence is exempted. He shall not directly or indirectly make inducement, threat or promise to any person or any police officer or tamper with the evidence, and he shall not indulge in any criminal and anti-social activity,” the court ruled as conditions for release. It also clarified that the observations made by the court shall have no bearing on the merits of the case during the regular trial.Appearing for the applicant, advocates Anupam Dubey, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar argued that there was sufficient evidence to prove the innocence of the accused as he was not named by the victim, just before her death. “Nikki had opened a beauty parlour in the upper portion of the house against the will of her husband and there was a dispute among them. On the date of incident due to the same issue there was an argument and she set fire upon her and when she was coming down the stairs from her room, her sister Kanchan saw her and later filed a case,” they said, informing the court that she never saw anyone setting fire to her.The advocates also rebutted the statement of the five-year-old son of the deceased and the accused who reportedly said that his mother was set on fire by his father. “During investigation, investigating officer recorded the statement of their son Avish Bhati and he said that his father burnt his mother but he is hardly five-year-old boy and his statement was recorded after two months on Oct 31; therefore, he prima facie appears to be tutored witness and no reliance can be placed on his statement,” they argued.Seeking the rejection of the bail application, additional govt advocate Vijay Kumar said that the applicant’s relationship with the deceased was not cordial and he used to torture her. “Even from the record it is apparent that he never accompanied the deceased and his parents to the hospital and this shows his guilty mind. There is a statement of their son in which he categorically stated that his father burnt his mother,” he said, agreeing that there was a delay of more than two months in recording the statement of this witness but argued that merely on this ground, his statement should not be disbelieved.Having heard the arguments of both sides, the court said that considering the tender age and the delay in recording the statement, the argument advanced by counsel for the applicant that he appears to be tutored, prima facie cannot be ruled out.“Considering the statements of the doctor and nurse who attended the deceased before her death and video footage of the hospital it could not be reflected that the deceased was burnt. From the statement of the doctor and nurse it reflects: the deceased informed them that she accidentally sustained injuries but according to defence, she committed suicide due to the non-cordial relationship of husband and wife, but merely on this ground prima facie at this stage it cannot be said that applicant burnt her,” the court noted while agreeing that there was sufficient ground to release the applicant on bail.Trial court advocate Amit Bhati Bodaki told TOI, “Three of the kids in the family — son of the deceased and two kids of the complainant — were downstairs and all three were together, which can be seen in the CCTV footage.”
