The Rouse Avenue Court denied bail to advocate Deepak Khatri, linked to an international arms trafficking syndicate, citing legal compliance in his arrest under the UAPA and Arms Act.
Court Rejects Bail Plea of Advocate Deepak Khatri
New Delhi [India], October 31 (ANI): The Rouse Avenue Court on Saturday dismissed the bail application of advocate Deepak Khatri in a UAPA case linked to the alleged illegal arms syndicate and international arms trafficking racket of Shahbaz Ansari. Khatri, who claims to be a member of the legal team of Lawrence Bishnoi, was arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act in connection with the case involving a large recovery of illegal arms. He was detained on August 25 at Indira Gandhi International Airport pursuant to a Look Out Circular (LOC).
Special Judge (UAPA) Kiran Bansal rejected the regular bail application filed by accused Deepak Nanda alias Deepak Khatri, who had alleged violations of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution and Sections 47 and 48 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, citing alleged illegality of arrest, non-communication of grounds of arrest and illegal remand. This was his second bail application. His first bail plea was withdrawn on October 14, 2026, with liberty to file a fresh application.
Judicial Observations on Legal Compliance
While dismissing the plea, the court observed, “In the present case, there has been substantial and effective compliance with the mandate of law, and reasons of arrest were supplied to the accused against written acknowledgement.” The court noted that the accused himself is an advocate and his wife is also an advocate, and that both are well versed with the law and procedures. The court said that the application filed by the accused is devoid of merits and no ground is made out to grant bail to the accused due to the following reasons, including that the accused was produced before the Remand Court within 24 hours of his detention/apprehension at IGI Airport. The grounds and reasons for arrest were communicated to him against written acknowledgement before 1.32 pm on August 26, 2026. “Grounds of arrest were also duly communicated to the wife and the counsel for the accused on the same day orally immediately after the arrest and in writing also on the same day,” the court said in its order.
Details of the Arms Trafficking Investigation
The investigating officer (IO), in a reply to the bail application, stated that the FIR was registered following the receipt of secret information, after which four accused persons were apprehended. During their search, 10 semi-automatic pistols and 116 live cartridges were recovered. It was further stated that during the investigation, accused Mohd. Rahil disclosed that alleged arms traffickers Shahbaz Ansari and Rehan Ansari were his cousin and maternal uncle, respectively. Shahbaz Ansari was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2022 and was subsequently released on interim bail. However, he did not surrender after his release and left India. He is presently believed to be operating from Bangladesh. It was also stated that raids were conducted and till now 20 accused persons have been arrested who are associated with International Arms Trafficking and terror module of Shahbaz Ansari and total 33 high end foreign made sophisticated firearms including 02 sub machine gun and 368 live cartridges are recovered either from their possession or at their instance. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianetnews Editorial staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)