High Court grants bail to Nalapad, imposes riders

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday granted bail to Mohammed Nalapad Haris who was arrested for assaulting Vidwath, son of a businessman, at Farzi Cafe, an upscale restaurant in UB City, in February.

Justice John Michael Cunha granted bail on condition that Nalapad will not leave Bengaluru without the permission of the court. Furthermore, the court also asked him to deposit Rs 2 lakh bond with two sureties.

Nalapad was also warned not to tamper with evidence and threaten witnesses. He was asked not to indulge in similar offences in future.

Nalapad, who has been in judicial custody for 116 days after being arrested on February 19, had applied for bail in the City Civil and Sessions court which was subsequently rejected. Following the rejection of his bail application, Nalapad had approached the high court for bail.

During the hearing of the case on Wednesday, senior counsel B V Acharya had contended that Nalapad had only slapped Vidwath a few times and had kicked him once. The grievous injuries to the victim were caused by Nalapad’s aides and not Nalapad.

Furthermore, he had argued that only ice buckets and bottles were used during the ‘sudden fight’ which cannot be categorised as dangerous weapons.

In response to this, special public prosecutor M S Shyamsundar argued that Nalapad had carried out a series of attacks on Vidwath.