Ghaziabad: A sessions court on Monday rejected the bail plea of a man who was arrested for stabbing a 75-year-old jeweller to death during a failed robbery attempt on Dec 4 last year. Accused Ankit Gupta was caught by a crowd and handed over to the police after he stabbed Giridhari Lal Soni multiple times. Soni later died in hospital. The incident was also captured on CCTV.Gupta was arrested from the spot on the same day and charged with offences under Section 109(1) BNS for attempted murder and Section 103(1) BNS for culpable homicide amounting to murder.Arguing for bail, counsel for the accused claimed Gupta was falsely implicated as he is highly qualified. The counsel argued that Gupta was highly qualified with BCom and MBA degrees and had never indulged in any wrongdoing.The counsel also pointed out that the FIR was registered after a gap of nine hours and no murder weapon was recovered from the accused or the crime scene. The counsel claimed that the weapon shown to be recovered was planted by the police.Objecting to the bail application, assistant district govt counsel Rajesh Chandra Sharma said that there were no grounds for the accused to be released on bail as there was sufficient evidence against him.“Gupta raided the jewellery shop early in the morning when Giridhari Lal Soni had just opened the gates and was all alone. He threw chilli powder on his face and was trying to take away the jewellery but failed when Soni’s younger son Rupendra arrived. He not only stabbed him repeatedly but also attacked his son when he tried to save his father,” he said, informing the court that the entire incident was also captured on CCTV.Having heard both sides, Judge Vinod Singh Rawat noted that the accused is named in the FIR, he was arrested from the crime scene and the incident was recorded on camera.“The old man suffered 19 stab injuries and died due to overbleeding while his son suffered grievous injuries in the attack. There is lack of sufficient grounds for the accused to be released on bail,” the judge said, rejecting his application.
