Arjun Menon

Mumbai, June 25 (PTI): Arjun Menon, the Indigo Airlines co-pilot accused of abetting the suicide of airhostess Sucheta Anand, was today granted bail.

Additional sessions judge Vinay Joshi granted him bail on a bond of Rs 25,000 after Menon’s advocate argued that his client had not intentionally abetted the suicide.

Anand hanged herself to death at Hotel Palm Grove in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, on June 7. Menon was arrested on June 12 after her brother filed a complaint against him.

Police have charged Menon with abetting Anand’s suicide and culpable homicide.

Menon’s advocate, Harshad Ponda, today argued: “It is a known fact now that Menon and Anand were in a relationship and they had a tiff on the date of incident. But tiffs are common in relationships and Menon had sent SMSes to Anand with a view to patch up.”

Public prosecutor R.V. Kini, however, said Menon must have hurt Anand which made her take the drastic step. “Anand did not take this step when she was tormented by her first husband and in-laws,” he said.

The court directed Menon not to leave Mumbai for a month and to visit Santa Cruz police station once in a week till the chargesheet is filed.

Menon’s brother, Vikram, a naval officer who was present in court, said it was Arjun who had approached the police first and told them of his relationship with Anand and that he was with her just hours before the suicide.