Thursday, June 15 2006 12:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Noting that the spate of medical certificates issued in the Jessica Lall murder case indicated that there is something more than that meets the eye, theDelhi High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail of a doctor charged with issuing false medical documents to one of the accused in the case.

Vacation judge Justice A K Sikri while rejecting the bail of Chandigarh-based Bedi said granting any relief to the doctor at this juncture would seriously impede the ongoing probe by the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Government to piece together various loose ends of the earlier investigations into the sensational murder of the ramp model.

Following a massive public outrage over the February 21 over acquittal of all the nine accused in the case, the government constituted the Special Investigation Team to probe the matter afresh and also filed an appeal in the High Court against the acquittal.

"If the police want his custodial interrogation, let them take him. They are doing some good job after the court started monitoring the case. Why do you object to it?" Justice Sikri remarked while rejecting the plea of counsel B S Dhull appearing for Bedi.

The counsel had earlier argued that Bedi was innocent and cannot be expected to check the bonafides of every patient before issuing prescriptions or medical certificates.

However, the Delhi police counsel Mukta Gupta opposed the bail plea on the ground that there was sufficient materials to prove that the doctor had issued false medical certificates in favour of accused Vikas Gill who had fled the country in October 2004.

According to police, Bedi issued several fake medical certificates in favour of Gill to claim that he was suffering from illness so as to faciliate his exemption from trial proceedings.