Patiala House Court dismisses bail plea of Ashish Pandey

The Patiala House Court in Delhi dismissed a bail plea of Ashish Pandey, the son of a former BSP MP, who had brandished pistol at guests and threatened them in the foyer of a five-star hotel in the national capital. On Monday, Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh sent Ashish Pandey to a 14-day judicial custody. Later in the day, the accused moved a fresh plea seeking bail.  

The court had earlier rejected his bail plea and issued a non-bailable warrant against him. Pandey had allegedly brandished a pistol at guests in Delhi's Hyatt Hotel on October 14 threatening them in the foyer, a video of which went viral on the social media.Pandey hails from Lucknow and is the son of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Rakesh Pandey.

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His brother, Ritesh Pandey, is an MLA in Uttar Pradesh.  A plea was filed by the Delhi Police which had registered an FIR on the complaint of the assistant security manager of The Hyatt Regency alleging that one person was flagging pistol in his hand in the porch area of the hotel after a tiff with a guest.

An FIR was filed on October 16 at R K Puram police station under various provisions of the IPC and the Arms Act relating to criminal intimidation and misuse of fire arms.

Pandey was booked under Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act and Sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.If convicted, Pandey may be awarded maximum seven years jail term along with fine for offences under the Arms Act.

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In his defence, Pandey had earlier said that he had taken the gun with him for safety and didn’t want to brandish it. He added that he was being projected like he’s a wanted terrorist and the police across the nation were looking for him. He had said if the CCTV footages were checked, it will be clear who threatened whom. He claimed that that he didn’t even address the girl and that it was her who made obscene gestures at him and pushed him.

(With PTI inputs)