Rape accused Indians ordered to pay $300 000 surety in Zimbabwe

By Tendai Kamhungira

High Court judge Lavender Makoni has ordered two Indian businessmen accused of raping a Zimbabwean woman at a Harare hotel to collectively pay $300 000 as surety.

The duo — Krishna Satyanarayana Gandlur, 33, and Ravi Krishnan, 40 — were in June released on $1 000 bail each by High Court judge Garainesu Mawadze.

As part of their bail conditions, Mawadze ordered the pair to reside at the addresses they provided the court, report every Monday and Friday at Harare Central Police Station, surrender their passports and not to interfere with State witnesses until the finalisation of the matter.

However, the two later filed an application before the High Court demanding the temporary release of their passports and the scrapping of reporting conditions to allow them to travel outside the country.

Through their lawyers Jonathan Samukange and Dumisani Mthombeni, the two had offered to pay $100 000 each as surety.

However, Makoni yesterday increased the amount to $150 000 each.

She said the relaxation of the bail conditions might cause a lot of noise, considering that the two are foreigners facing a serious offence.

She said $150 000 each would ensure the two will attend their trial on September 20.

Prosecutor Tapiwa Kasema, who initially opposed the application on the basis that the two would abscond, agreed to the variation of the bail conditions.

This was after the police failed to provide the court with a comprehensive report on the progress of the matter, following a directive for them to bring a letter of approval from Cabinet showing that blood samples taken from the two suspects had been sent to South Africa for tests.

Makoni questioned Kasema over the police’s failure to comply with the prosecution’s demands.

“What has happened to the powers of the prosecutor?” she asked, adding that during her time as a prosecutor, she would tell the police the documents that she required and the time within which those items were to be provided.

She also said if the police did not want to comply with directives from prosecutors, they might as well be the investigators and prosecutors of the court cases.

“You should redeem your powers,” she said, adding that the powers of the police end when they hand over dockets to prosecutors.

Samukange weighed in, saying that the police are now superintending the prosecution, adding the police had developed an attitude of not taking orders from anyone.

Circumstances forming the basis of Gandlur and Krishnan’s arrest are that on June 16, 2016, the two took advantage of the drunken complainant and forcibly had anal sexual intercourse with her. Daily News