Raj Agarwal murder: HC grants bail to Shaikh

Although the court had heard at length on the admissibility of DNA test evidence,the order did not mention anything on the same other than the arguments regarding the tests that were contested in court.

During the hearing,the court wanted to know admissibility of DNA test as evidence wherein it was observed that the test can be conclusive evidence.

Shaikh’s lawyer Hasanali Mooman had pointed out that as per the doctor’s deposition the bone sample of the victim does not match with the blood samples of mother Aarti Agarwal. He had also contented that the body was not the biological offspring of Aarti and the fact that both the mother and father Kunjbihari did not identify the remains of the body.

Additional public prosecutor Usha Kejriwal vehemently opposed the bail saying that the body was found at the instance of the accused and also that the sample of skeleton matched the paternal genealogy of the father which was established through Y-STR test.

Today,the division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice Mridula Bhatkar in their order observed that a different bench of the court had already granted bail to the other accused in the case.

The court said it was inclined to grant bail on grounds of parity and suspended the substantive sentence.

Shaikh and six others were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping 14-year-old Raj Agarwal in November 2003 for ransom and later murdering him.