MUMBAI: A sessions court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to a 21-year-old Agra-based law student accused of selling obscene clips featuring the arrested self-styled godman Ashok Kharat through a Telegram channel, ruling that custodial interrogation was unnecessary.Agra law student gets pre-arrest bail in Kharat video sale caseObserving that the allegation against the accused, Abhay Pratap, was that he had been selling videos related to the Kharat case for monetary gain, the court said that the clips were already circulating on social media.Kharat was arrested in March after a woman accused him of rape and sexual exploitation under the guise of spiritual rituals and occult practices. Multiple women later came forward with similar allegations, resulting in several FIRs across Maharashtra.Pratap, a second-year LLB student, was booked by the Maharashtra Nodal Cyber police after investigators allegedly found an Instagram account linked to a Telegram channel called “Argo Search,” which was offering obscene videos linked to the Kharat case for sale. During a covert investigation, authorities identified him as the user of the Telegram account who allegedly shared screenshots of the videos along with a UPI payment ID, which prompted the registration of an FIR.Pratap denied the allegations, saying he neither created nor originally uploaded the videos and that the content was already widely available on social media platforms. He further argued that police had not produced evidence showing he received any money from the alleged transactions. He also pointed to his lack of criminal antecedents and ongoing law examinations.The prosecution opposed the bail plea, claiming that Pratap had not cooperated with the investigation and that custodial interrogation was necessary to recover electronic devices and trace recipients of the allegedly obscene material.However, the court noted that the videos in question were already available online and held that the investigation could proceed without custodial interrogation. While granting Pratap pre-arrest bail, it directed him to cooperate with the investigation.