AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan gets bail

New Delhi: AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, arrested for allegedly threatening a woman after she visited his residence to raise the issue of power cuts, was today granted bail by a court here.

Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Tripathi gave the relief to the Okhla MLA noting that he was not required for investigation and "no purpose would be served by keeping him in jail".

The court asked the legislator to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of like amount.

"The woman has already got adequate police protection so there is no possibility of tampering with prosecution evidence or influencing evidences... The accused is directed to join investigation as and when called by the investigation officer," the judge said.

Khan had moved the session court seeking bail after a magisterial court sent him to 14-day judicial custody on the ground that he might influence witnesses and hamper investigation, if released.

Khan was first detained for questioning and then arrested on July 24, a day after he alleged in a press conference that the woman was "pressurised" by the police into giving a false statement against him.

According to the police, on July 22, the woman had recorded her statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC alleging that when she was returning from the MLA's residence, a vehicle, in which Khan was sitting, tried mowing her down.

She also claimed that a motorcycle tried to run over her when she was on her way to the court to record the statement.

Prior to that, she had on July 19 filed a complaint with police alleging that at the AAP MLA's residence in Jamia Nagar, a youth had on July 10 abused her and threatened that she would be killed if she did not stop politicising the matter.

The woman, a resident of Jasola, had said that she had telephoned Khan on July 10 and later went to his Batla House residence to raise the issue of power cuts with him after which she was allegedly threatened by the youth.

An FIR was subsequently registered in this regard under sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC.

After her statement to the magistrate, Section 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC was added to the FIR. Khan had, however, said he did not even know if the woman came to his residence.