Ahmedabad: Noted danseuse and prime accused in an alleged visa racket Mallika Sarabhai today (October 29) got a reprieve after a local court granted her anticipatory bail.

Additional city and sessions judge P B Desai granted Sarabhai the anticipatory bail and asked her to furnish a personal surety of Rs one lakh and directed her to appear before the Naranpura police, which is investigating the case, on November 1 between 10.00 and 12.00 hrs (IST).

The court also asked Sarabhai to co-operate with the investigating agency.

The court had on October 24 reserved till today its order on Sarabhai's anticipatory bail plea after hearing the arguments of public prosecutor J M Panchal and Sarabhai's advocate R K Shah.

Opposing the bail plea, Panchal had submitted that considering the seriousness of the offence, custodial interrogation of the accused was required, as there was a malafide intention to deceive the complainant and others.

He claimed "there was illegal trafficking of humans in this case, as there has been a systematic manner in which the accused person had operated".

The accused had also told the complainant and others who were interested in going to United States along with the dance troupe to tell the US Consulate General in Mumbai that they were "members of Darpana Academy and they had travelled abroad earlier for similar shows".

As per the complaint, the accused had also "claimed to have procured the visa to US", even though this had not happened and in fact, the consulate had remarked that the same troupe headed by Mallika was facing similar allegations dating back to 2001.

Panchal argued that custodial interrogation was required, so that the accused, who is a prominent personality, did not tamper with evidence and for impartial probe.

PTI