Udupi court rejects bail plea of quadruple murder accused
The Second Additional Udupi District and Sessions Court judge, Dinesh Hegde, on Saturday rejected the bail application of 39-year-old Pravin Arun Chougule, who is accused of murdering a woman and her three children.
Chougule, a cabin crew executive of Air India Express who is now under suspension, has been charged with murdering his colleague Ainaz, her elder sister Afnan, her younger brother Aseem, and their mother Haseena, and also critically injuring their grandmother Hajeera at their house in Trupthi Layout of Ashwatkatte in Malpe police station limits on November 12.
The police arrested Chougule on November 14 at Kuduchi in Belagavi district and he has been in judicial custody. Chougule recently filed an application seeking bail.
Rejecting the bail application, the judge said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the accused had committed non-bailable offences of murder of four valuable lives and an attempt to murder a senior citizen.
“Out of them all are women and the minor child is also a victim of the barbarous brutal crime. In such a case, if the court grants bail it will not only send a wrong message to society but it will also hamper the entire case of the prosecution,” he said.
Taking into consideration the nature, gravity and seriousness of the crime, and also the antecedents of the accused and the possibility of the accused fleeing from justice and threatening the prosecution witnesses, the judge said he did not find any ground to enlarge Chougule on bail.