Ranchi, February 27 The Jharkhand High Court on Friday directed City SP Paras Rana and the in-charge of the Doranda police station, Deepika Prasad, to ensure the immediate release of advocate Manoj Tandon's vehicle.
The directive came during the hearing of Tandon's petition seeking the release of his car, which was seized after he was accused of dragging a man on the hood of his vehicle at Rajendra Chowk on February 17. A purported video of the over 40-second incident had gone viral.
The case was mentioned before Justice Gautam Kumar Choudhary in the morning, who directed the City SP and the officer in-charge of the Doranda police station to appear in person before the high court at 11:30 am. The DGP was also directed to appear virtually.
The officers appeared before the court, and it was informed on behalf of the state that a petition challenging the release of the advocate's vehicle had been filed before the Supreme Court, which was likely to hear the matter at 1 pm, officials said.
The HC posted the case for 2:15 pm after the lunch break. When taken up, government counsel again requested a 10-day adjournment.
Observing that no order had yet been passed by the Supreme Court, Justice Choudhary said the government was merely seeking time.
The court also noted that Tandon's car had been involved in an accident at a busy junction around 10 am while he was on his way to court and that no one was injured.
Seeking an adjournment today will only stall the release of the vehicle as courts will be closed for Holi holidays, the judge observed.
Justice Choudhary further said, "The High Court had ordered the release of the vehicle on February 19. Thereafter, the court of a judicial magistrate also directed the police to release it, which has not been complied with and indicates a personal vendetta against Tandon."
Later, the Doranda police claimed that Tandon's vehicle had been released.
