The Allahabad High Court has granted conditional bail to Kunal Pandey and Anand Chauhan, accused of gang-raping a B Tech student from the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) in Varanasi.
The accused was granted bail after spending seven months in jail following their arrest in January 2024. However, the court did not approve the bail application for the third accused, Saksha Patel, whose case will be reportedly reviewed on September 14, 2024.
Kunal was released on 24 August while Anand was released on 29 August. According to the neighbours, when Anand reached his house in Nagwa Colony, he was welcomed with garlands. Kunal and Anand’s houses are side by side, as reported by Dainik Jagran.
The incident occurred on November 2 2023, when the 20-year-old student was allegedly attacked by the three men while she was out with a friend. The victim student was allegedly abducted, stripped, and sexually assaulted by three accused inside the Indian IIT-BHU campus in Varanasi.
The complainant claimed that she and a friend had left their hostel. They were close to the Karman Baba temple when three men on a motorcycle pulled up, separated her from her friend, and forced her into a corner where they gagged her.
The three accused had confessed to the crime, including disrobing and filming the survivor at gunpoint, police sources revealed on December 31.
On December 31, Kunal Pandey, Abhishek Chauhan alias Anand, and Saksham Patel were taken into police custody. Motorcycles, mobile phones, and electronic evidence were also seized. Kunal and Saksham are members of the BJP IT cell.
According to the deputy commissioner of police RS Gautham, the accused were charged under the National Security Act, the UP Gangsters Act, and the Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act.
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