Udupi: Udupi District and Sessions Court granted conditional bail to Rajeshwari Shetty, the main accused in the murder of Hotelier and Entrepreneur Bhaskar Shetty, on Monday, November 5 here as per the direction of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, on April 23 had directed the district court to complete the hearing of 36 witnesses out of 167 witnesses within six months. The district court has competed the hearing of 40 witnesses, including Forensic Science Laboratory DNA officer Purushotham who arrived from Bengaluru . After the completion of hearing of 36 witnesses, the district court granted conditional bail to main accused Rajeshwari Shetty.
As per the direction from Supreme Court, the district court started hearing of witnesses from July 2. Rajeshwari Shetty was granted bail by Udupi District and Sessions court judge Venkatesh Naik after surety from her sister and relatives with the bond of Rs one lac. The hearing on the case has been posted to February 4 to 8. Rajeshwari cannot be leaving the country and is required to be present during the hearings.
Senior Advocate Arun Bangera and Narayana Poojary appeared for the accused in the case. At present Rajeshwari Shetty is lodged at Parappana Agrahara Prision in Bengaluru and she may be released from jail in two days.
Bhaskar Shetty went missing from his house on July 28, 2016. His mother Gulabi Shetty lodged missing person complaint on 29th July, 2016. The police arrested his wife Rajeshwari Shetty and her son Navaneeth Shetty on August 7, 2018. Meanwhile police also arrested Niranjan Bhat, an astrologer on the charge of helping executing the murder plot of Shetty and destroying the evidence.
