Bombay high court relief for Preeti Jain from arrest

MUMBAI:

Bombay high court

on Monday extended the temporary bail granted to aspiring actor Preeti Jain who was convicted for conspiring to kill national award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar.

Vacation judge Justice

MS Karnik

granted her relief from arrest till June 7. The bail granted by the trial court expires on May 26. The judge also admitted her appeal against the April 28 order of the trial court which sentenced her to three years’ imprisonment.

Jain has also filed a plea urging the HC to suspend the jail term and release her on regular bail. The prosecutor sought time to take instructions.

On April 28, a trial court had held Preeti and two others guilty of conspiring to kill Bhandarkar and had sentenced them to three years’ imprisonment.

It suspended her sentence for four weeks and granted her bail so that she could appeal against her conviction in the high court.

In 2004, Preeti -- a model and aspiring actor -- had lodged a complaint against Bhandarkar accusing him of raping her 16 times since 1999. Preeti had alleged that Bhandarkar under the pretext of giving her a lead role in his films had forced himself on her. Bhandarkar had denied the allegations and in 2012 the Supreme Court had quashed the rape case against him.

In 2005, Preeti was arrested for conspiring to kill the film director. The police claimed that the plot came to light when she approached the

Akhil Bharatiya Sena

to recover Rs 40,000 that she had allegedly paid to one Naresh Pardeshi to eliminate Bhandarkar. The filmmaker was one of the 51 witnesses that the prosecution had produced before the trial court. In her appeal, Preeti claimed that the trial court had erred in convicting her.