SA model rape case accused gets bail

 

MUMBAI: Four months after he was arrested on the charges of raping a 27-year-old South African model in a hotel, a local court on Tuesday granted bail to accused Sunil Morpani on certain conditions.
    
Sessions judge S S Joshi granted Morpani bail for Rs 25,000 and asked him not to leave the country without permission and not to tamper with evidence.
    
The sessions court, on February 4, had granted bail to co-accused Suresh Krishnani, held on a similar charge.

 

The two are accused of raping the NRI from South Africa on the night of December 27-28 last year.

 

According to police, the model was drugged and taken from hotel Bawa International in Bandra to a hotel in Ulhasnagar on December 27 last year and raped by the accused before being dropped home the next day.
    
Police filed a 200-page chargesheet in the court on February 1, charging the accused under Indian Penal Code Sections 347 (wrongful confinement), 366 (kidnapping a woman to seduce her), 376(1)(g) (gang rape), 324 (causing hurt with dangerous weapon), 328 (administering drugs), 354 (assaulting a woman to molest her) and 292 (sale of obscene books).
    
Of these, three offences -- gang rape, kidnapping woman to seduce her and administering drugs -- are non-bailable.