The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted 16 more days to a convict to surrender before the trial court in the sensational case of attempt to assassinate the then Chief Justice of India A N Ray near the Supreme Court in 1975. Santosh Anand Avdhoot, convicted along with Sudevanand Avdhoot, got the relief till October 16 when Justice Sunita Gupta will hear his plea challenging the order to surrender on the ground that he has already spend more years in jail than the 10-year imprisonment term awarded to him. Sudevanand, who was also awarded the same jail term, has complied with the order to surrender. The two convicts - both belonging to Anandmargi sect - were held guilty of conspiring to bomb the car of Ray on the evening of March 20, 1975. The third accused Ranjan Dwivedi, a lawyer, succeeded in getting his conviction overturned by the high court. On Santosh Anand's plea that he be set free, the high court has asked the Tihar Jail authority to file a report after verifying the years spend by him during the trial and and later after the conviction by the trial court. The high court had on August 14 passed the verdict, 38 years after their appeals were filed.
