Sunil Raut's bail plea rejected in IBN attack case

A sessions court , on Wednesday, rejected the bail of Sunil Raut, brother of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, arrested in connection with the attack on the office of a Marathi news channel. Raut and 14 other Shiv Sainiks were arrested on November 25 for vandalising the office of IBN-Lokmat and for assaulting its staff.

On November 20, a group of alleged Shiv Sainiks ransacked the office of IBN-Lokmat in suburban Mumbai and beat up the staff members, accusing the channel of showing their party supremo Bal Thackeray in bad light. Raut and the other accused, who are presently in judicial custody, had approached the sessions court seeking bail on the grounds that they had no intention of attacking the channel and had gone there to settle the problem amicably.

Public prosecutor R V Kini, however, opposed the bail pleas arguing that if the accused did not have the intension of attacking the place then why were they carrying weapons. The court accepting the prosecution's argument observed that it was a serious offence and rejected the bail pleas.