Noida: A home ministry driver arrested for allegedly infiltrating an industrial workers’ WhatsApp group and posting inciting audio messages linked to the April 13 unrest has been granted bail by fast-track court-II.Additional sessions judge Sandeep Choudhary ordered the release of Anil Kumar on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the same amount. “The applicant will not exert any pressure on the plaintiff or witnesses in any way, nor will he intimidate or threaten any witnesses, he will cooperate in the trial and will be present in court on every date and will not apply for any adjournment and will not cause any dispute of any kind in the future,” the court observed on June 3.Allowing the application, the judge said the case diary shows the applicant is accused of joining ‘Richa Global Group’ on WhatsApp and posting provocative audio clips, “but no specific active violent role has been shown in the documents to establish his involvement in the said audio post and incident.” The court added that with three other co-accused already on bail, and “without making any comment on the merits and demerits of the case”, there was sufficient basis to grant him bail.Kumar’s name first came up on May 19 during proceedings in Supreme Court, when Manik Gupta, the lawyer appearing for Aditya Anand and Rupesh Roy — two more accused of inciting the unrest — alleged that the WhatsApp chat police relied on for their probe had been infiltrated by cops themselves. Gupta claimed Kumar was a police driver and had posted inciting messages in the same group. Noida police arrested Kumar on May 20 and added him only to FIR No. 169.Kumar’s counsel argued he is innocent and has been roped in due to a personal grudge. “He is not named in the case and does not hold a job with any company. So, there is no question of him inciting a riot. He did not conspire to incite a riot through a WhatsApp group, nor did he cause any property damage. He earns his living by working as a driver in the ministry of home affairs,” the lawyer said, adding that Kumar was on duty on the day of the incident. “Police abducted him from his rented house, falsely implicated him and sent him to jail.”According to court records, the state opposed bail, but did not advance arguments to back its objection.
