Chandigarh, Feb. 14 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has granted bail to YouTube influencer Balwant Singh, popularly known as Bobby Kataria, in a human trafficking case being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). In an order dated February 12, the high court allowed Kataria's appeal against a previous decision of the special judge (NIA), Haryana at Panchkula, which had dismissed his bail plea on July 20, 2024. Kataria had been in custody as an under-trial for over one year and eight months. Kataria had submitted that only 23 out of 73 prosecution witnesses had been examined so far and the trial is likely to take a long time. Hence, he be grantedbail. He had also undertaken to return the amount taken from the victims. "The appellant is ordered to be released on regular bail subject to his furnishing requisite bail bonds to the satisfaction of the trial Court/Duty Magistrate and depositing the demand draft for the aforenoted amount in the Special Court (NIA), Panchkula within two days from now," the court said while allowing his bail plea and further recording that the NIA court, Panchkula would be at liberty to disburse the amount to the claimants in accordance with law after due verification. The case was initially registered by Haryana Police and later re-registered by the NIA under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Emigration Act. Kataria has been accused of collecting money from several individuals on the promise of arranging overseas employment. It was alleged that some individuals were sent to Southeast Asian countries, where they were forced to work under exploitative conditions....