Human trafficking and murder case: Karnataka HC grants conditional bail to Mumbai based accused

BENGALURU: Mumbai based Ajay Gopal Sharma alias Manoj Tiwari, an accused in the human trafficking and murder case reported from Ramanagara Rural police station in 2017, has been granted conditional bail by the Karnataka high court .


He is arraigned as accused no. 13 in the case, which came to be registered when the body of one Surinderpal Singh from Punjab was recovered from the bushes on the outskirts of a village in Ramanagara .

Allowing Sharma’s bail petition, Justice K N Phaneendra has directed him to furnish a bail bond for Rs 2 lakhs and also appear on all dates of hearing (unless exempted) in the ongoing trial.

Sharma cannot leave India without prior permission till disposal of the case registered against him and should not indulge in any activities to tamper with witnesses, the Judge has further observed in his order.

The judge has also opined that if two views are available on record itself, which view is correct and true has to be established during the course of trial itself.

This observation was in the backdrop of Sharma’s claim that there is no specific allegation against him in the charge sheet filed by the Ramanagara Rural police and on the same set of witnesses, the CID that took over the probe implicated him based on statements made by the witnesses.

The CID claimed that Sharma was part of a syndicate which lured deceased Surinderpal Singh and two others with the promise of securing jobs in Canada.

It is contended that Sharma with another accused received deceased Surinderpal Singh and two others at Mumbai airport, took them to a hotel in his vehicle to the hotel and later accompanied them back to the Mumbai airport for seeing them off to Bengaluru. It is alleged that he was paid Rs 1 lakh for this service.

Surinder was kept captive by the gang . They asked him to call his family saying that he had reached Canada and they should send money. As he resisted, they beat him mercilessly, using iron rods. Fearing that he may reveal their identities, the gang members killed him and dumped the body in a bush at a village in Ramanagara.