A file picture of the Bonds

April 18: The boyfriend of an American woman arrested in north Bengal for carrying bullets in her baggage has offered his “deepest apology to the people of India” and owned up to the clip of ammunition.

The expression of regret came a few hours after a Siliguri court extended the judicial custody of Heather Bond and her mother Monica by 14 days, dashing the Californians’ hopes for bail.

Heather’s boyfriend, Sean McGaughey, told The Telegraph over the phone from Santa Barbara this evening: “I want you to send out my deepest apology to the people of India and particularly those in the region of Siliguri about this incident.”

Sean, who works as an air-conditioner installer, added: “The clip in Heather’s bag was mine and I have an exact duplicate (of the clip) at home. I should have taken out the clip from her bag as soon as we returned from our last trip.”

Earlier in the day, the additional chief judicial magistrate of Siliguri had rejected the bail plea of the Bonds.

“This is really, really unfortunate. They are completely innocent….,” said Monica’s husband, Lawrence. “It is so tragic. Heather was putting together a small effort to run a travel agency and was visiting India to scout out locations.”

Sean said he was planning to come to India to “his family”. “I cannot change the course of what is happening in India, but the two most important women in my life are in trouble for no fault of theirs,” he said.

Lawrence, who will turn 70 next month, said he had undergone bypass operations twice, and travelling to India would be “suicidal”.

So far, all agencies in the US have confirmed that Monica and Heather do not have a criminal record. The confirmations include a letter from Mona Sewell, a record specialist at the Sheriff’s office in Santa Barbara.

Deborah A. Miller, the US consular section chief in Calcutta, was present at today’s hearing.

The Bonds were arrested on April 14 after the security staff of Deccan found 11 bullets in one of their backpacks while scanning their registered baggage at Bagdogra Airport. Monica is a retired nurse, and Heather an employee of California’s forest department.

In the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Siliguri, defence lawyer Abhaypada Chatterjee said his clients could be released on bail after keeping back their passports.

But public prosecutor Subrata Saha said: “They have committed an offence, so their bail must be rejected.”