Lucknow: A Lucknow court has rejected the bail application of suspended IPS officer Manilal Patidar, an accused in an abetment to suicide case.
The order was passed by the court of special judge, Prevention of Corruption Act, in Lucknow on Monday.
Advocate Manish Kumar Tripathi had appeared before the court on behalf of the complainant Nitish Pandey and opposed the bail application. The government advocate had also opposed the plea. Patidar was the Superintendent of Police of Mahoba district in September 2020 when businessman Indrakant Tripathi, who owned a stone crushing quarry, allegedly committed suicide. Nitish Pandey, who was the director of PP Pandey Infrastructure, had accused, in his police complaint, Patidar of demanding a bribe from Tripathi to carry out his business activity of supplying pebbles for construction work of the Bundelkhand Expressway. In a video that surfaced online on September 7, 2020, Tripathi claimed that Patidar was forcing him to pay Rs 5 lakhs every month to let him run his business.
Two days later, he allegedly shot himself and died at a Kanpur hospital on September 14.
Patidar was suspended on September 9, 2020 and an FIR was also lodged against him, after which he absconded.
The state vigilance department also booked Patidar under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
After absconding for two years, Patidar surrendered before the court of additional district and sessions judge on October 15, 2022. In May 2022, the state government wrote to the Union Home Ministry recommending the dismissal of Patidar from the Indian Police Service. —IANS
