Court again rejects bail to Chinese man
3 min readPatna: Special judge (excise) Ramesh Chandra Malviya on Tuesday rejected for the second time the regular bail petition of a Chinese company executive, Tiandong Wo a.k.a. Danny, a resident of China’s Hubei province who was arrested for possession of liquor.
Wu Chuangyong, the other Chinese national from whose room a liquor bottle was also recovered, is still absconding.
Tiangdong’s bail was earlier rejected on June 21. Thereafter, he filed a writ petition in the high court. The court, in its order, directed the lower court to re-examine the bail petition of the accused in the order of merit.
The court, while rejecting Tiangdong’s bail plea, also directed Beur jail superintendent to arrange necessary medical treatment for the accused.
The court said one bottle of foreign-made liquor and an empty bottle of liquor were recovered from the accused and if granted bail, the accused was very likely to go out of the country, hampering the progress of the case.
The court held that in this case, bail cannot be granted as there is a provision of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh.
He was arrested on June 17 from a guesthouse in Gardanibagh under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. The counsel of the Chinese accused, Sandeep Kumar Shahi, argued on the bail petition and told the court that the accused had come Patna with a visa valid till June 21. After expiration of the visa validity, other criminal charges might be brought against the accused.
On the other hand, special public prosecutor Sayyed Zafar Haider opposed the bail petition and told the court that the case diary had not been submitted.
The accused has a valid visa and the period of visa ended on June 21 should not be a base for granting bail.
If bail was granted, then the accused will go out of the country.
The special public prosecutor also told the special court that according to Section 38 (i) (ii) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, there was a provision of 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and also a fine up to Rs 10 lakh. The section is non-boilable. The public prosecutor said bail was granted, then the purpose of justice will be defeated.
A senior official from the Chinese consulate in Calcutta had earlier reached Patna on June 18 and told the cops that his countrymen were not aware of the prohibition in Bihar.
Patna police, based on inputs, had raided the Oppo Mobile guesthouse at Ali Nagar on June 17, and arrested a Chinese national, Tiandong, on charges of possession of liquor.
The police, sources said two liquor bottles, including one of a Nepalese brand, from Tiandong’s room was recovered.
“I am sorry that a citizen from my country has violated the rules of your state,” Wang Lifeng, economic and commercial consul at the Chinese consulate in Calcutta, told Gardanibagh police station house officer C.P. Yadav on Monday.
Lifeng had said that the arrested Chinese citizen had no knowledge about the prohibition in Bihar. “Please provide us the list of dos and don’ts that a person – especially a foreigner – has to follow in your state. Also provide us a list of what to drink and what not to drink,” he had said.
Tiandong was in Patna on a business visa for six months. He works with Oppo Mobile.
Nine Chinese nationals, including two women, are in Patna assessing the work of Oppo Mobiles. Eight of them have business visas, while one person has a work visa.
During the raid at the four-storey guesthouse on Sunday, a liquor bottle was also recovered from the room of another Chinese national, Wu Chuangyong, who was away in Bhagalpur. The police have asked Wu Chuangyong to surrender.
The police had seized the passports of the nine Chinese nationals, and after verification returned the passports to them. The cops had also found Rs 9 lakh from Tiandong’s room and have handed the cash over to the income tax department for verification.
Courtesy: The Telegraph
