Man who hurled shoe at Arvind Kejriwal gets bail

A city court today granted bail to a man who had hurled a shoe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal here on the ground that he was having bad health and was not required for custodial interrogation. Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra gave the relief to 28-year-old Ved Prakash, a national general secretary of Aam Aadmi Sena and observed that he has maintained good conduct during the interim bail.

He was earlier granted interim bail on April 22 for a month on medical ground as he was suffering from hepatitis. “Accused was diagnosed with hepatitis. Medical record shows that bilirubin is on higher side and he is still on medication. I found merits in the submissions made by the counsel for accused. He is no more required for custodial interrogation. He has maintained good conduct during the period of interim bail.

“Keeping in view the above facts and circumstances, bad health of accused and medical reports, interim bail given to accused Ved Prakash is confirmed,” the magistrate said.

Prakash, who was arrested by the police on April 9, had interrupted Kejriwal’s press conference at the media centre of Delhi Secretariat on the odd-even scheme and then thrown a shoe at the Chief Minister, along with a CD of an alleged sting operation he claimed he had conducted.

During the hearing, Prakash’s counsel said his client was still on medication and has to take care of liquid intakes. He said the investigation is already complete and keeping in view his medical records, his bail be confirmed.

The plea, however, was opposed by the prosecutor. On April 11, the court had dismissed his bail plea while expressing its displeasure over the act and saying a strong deterrent is needed for such acts. Police had said he was a resident of Begampur in north west Delhi and a property dealer. A young woman had earlier thrown ink at Kejriwal at a public rally on January 17 here to celebrate the success of the first phase of odd-even scheme.