Geethavishnu gets bail, told to cooperate

BENGALURU: A day after he surrendered before Central Crime Branch at a guesthouse in Madikeri, about 250km from here, first additional chief metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday granted bail to Geethavishnu S, grandson of former MP and industrialist late

Audikeshavalu Naidu

. Geethavishnu was directed by the court to cooperate with the investigation. Bengaluru police detained the 27-year-old on the night of September 28 after his Mercedes Benz allegedly rammed a

Maruti Omni

near South End Circle, Jayanagar, and recovered 110g of ganja from the vehicle. In the night, Vishnu was shifted to Mallya Hospital and he escaped from there.

Police on Sunday arrested Rajesh Naidu, a doctor and brother-in-law of Vishnu, on charges of harbouring the offender. On October 3, a posse of CCB police reached Madikeri and Vishnu, who was hiding in his guesthouse, surrendered before the police team. Earlier, opposing the grant of bail, the public prosecutor sought six days of police custody for the petitioner. According to him, there were four cases against Geethavishnu.

“We are investigating if he is part of

drug mafia

,“ an official said.

The prosecutor said the petitioner hails from an influential family and has tried to take advantage of it while being in police custody. As involvement in drug mafia is presumed, he should be sent to police custody to

unearth thousands of kilograms of ganja

, the public prosecutor had stated.

The counsel for Geethavishnu objected to this and further argued that the section pertaining to offences registered against Geethavishnu are bailable offences and under section 167

CrPC

, bail cannot be denied.