Mother of Pratyusha Banerjee moves SC for cancellation of Rahul Raj’s anticipatory bail

Soma Banerjee, mother of late actress Pratyusha Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court decision granting anticipatory bail to accused Rahul Raj Singh..The petition was filed through advocates Vipin Nair, PB Suresh and Tishampati Sen, challenging the Bombay High Court order of April 25. The matter was mentioned today before the vacation Bench which posted the case for hearing on May 30..Soma Banerjee has contended that the Bombay High Court order is palpably erroneous and militates against the settled legal position. They have submitted that there is an abuse of due process and the police should not have been disallowed from interrogating Singh..She has submitted that the High Court failed to appreciate the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Pokar Ram v. State of Rajasthan and State v. Anil Sharma. They have contended that the High Court failed to take note of accused’s proximity to the deceased to cause harm to her and granting bail to him could result in frustrating the investigation..“….the Hon’ble High Court failed to appreciate that the Accused had the closest connection, proximity and opportunity to cause harm to the deceased, while granting the Anticipatory Bail?.….High Court by granting the Anticipatory Bail prematurely when investigation is still at the stage of its inception or at its threshold has frustrated the very purpose of the investigation and as a result the real culprit may never be brought to the book.”.Banerjee was found dead in her apartment under mysterious circumstances and police has started preliminary investigations on the same..The Sessions Court had rejected anticipatory bail application of Rahul in view of the strong opposition by the prosecution. Despite the said rejection, the police had not arrested Rahul and he had approached the High Court which had granted him anticipatory bail.