Delhi court grants bail to woman accused in fake ED raid at elderly couple’s home

A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Pooja Rajput in a case concerning an alleged fake Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid conducted at a house in New Friends Colony (NFC) [State Vs Pooja Rajput].Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vinod Joshi of the South-East District, Saket Courts, passed the order on June 11.The Court noted that the items recovered from Rajput's house allegedly belonged to co-accused Prakash, who has already been arrested. It added that the investigation against Rajput has been completed and that she has spent considerable time in custody."The chargesheet has been already filed against the accused and this is the first bail application since filing of chargesheet. Hence, no fruitful purpose shall be served by keeping the accused behind bars," the Court said..The case was registered after three men, posing as ED officials, allegedly entered the residence of 86-year-old RC Sabharwal, a retired senior architect, in NFC in February.They allegedly intimidated the family, took away their mobile phones and made them place jewellery and cash on a table during the purported raid.The police later arrested Rajput and Rekha Devi, who worked as a domestic help at the complainant’s house. Rajput is Rekha’s sister-in-law and is accused of being part of the conspiracy to cheat the elderly. The police uniform and identity cards connected to co-accused Prakash were recovered from Rajput’s house, as per the police.Rajput's counsel argued that she was not the main perpetrator and that no recovery had been made from her. It was also submitted that she had spent considerable time in custody and was willing to abide by any conditions for bail.The State opposed the bail plea, arguing that Rajput was part of the conspiracy. It also highlighted the seriousness of the offence and the fact that two accused were yet to be traced..Rajput was granted bail on furnishing a bail bond of ₹25,000 with two sureties of the same amount..Advocate Gaurav Nautiyal appeared for Rajput.Additional Public Prosecutor Tarun Srivastava appeared for the State..[Read Order]