PATNA, April 17 -- The accused in alleged rape-murder of a NEET aspirant Manish Ranjan was on Thursday granted bail by the special judge, POCSO, Rajeev Ranjan Raman. The accused is the owner of Patna's Shambhu Girls' Hostel in Chirtagupta Nagar where the alleged rape of the girl took place on January 6.

The accused Manish Ranjan was in judicial custody since January 15, 2026. The court had rejected default bail on April 15 as it was prematurely filed.

The counsel on behalf of Manish submitted that the statutory period of 90 days has now expired and he is entitled to get default bail as no charge sheet has been filed till date.

The special PP Suresh Chandra Prasad said that taking note of the delay, the court granted default bail upon f...