Industrialist Samir Thapar, 11 others granted bail by High court

NAINITAL: The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday granted bail to 12 of the 16 accused in the Kotdwar arms recovery case. A single judge bench of justice V K Bisht granted bail to the accused.
The 16 men, including Delhi-based industrialist Samir Thapar, were arrested by the Uttarakhand police on the New Year eve from the Kolhu Chaur area of Lansdowne in Pauri Garhwal for allegedly trespassing in the forest area, along with liquor, rifles and live cartridges, without proper licence.Besides, some packets of cooked and uncooked meats were also recovered from their possession, which police sent for lab tests. All the accused were remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Sandeep Kothari, counsel for the accused, told TOI, “The court after considering everything, including the period of detention, deemed it fit to grant bail.”
The police had reportedly found 171 liquor bottles of different brands, a box which contained a .300 bore rifle, along with 23 live cartridges, and a telescope from their possession. One of them, Arif Hussain, was reportedly carrying a .375 bore rifle and 15 live cartridges.
On January 2, a local court in Kotdwar denied bail to Thapar, chairman and managing director of JCT Ltd, and 15 of his friends after they were arrested in Kolhu Chaur near Jim Corbett National Park.
In 1992, the Thapars had courted huge controversy after a helicopter owned by their company crashed near the Kakghar dam in the Jim Corbett National Park on October 21. Following the incident, the then union environment minister Kamal Nath ordered an inquiry, and the probe report indicted the Thapars of poaching wildlife using the helicopter. Later, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also sued them for flying their helicopter over the national park.