MUMBAI, Oct. 17 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted pre-arrest bail to retired civil servant Dilip Khedekar, who was booked for kidnapping the helper of a ready mix concrete (RMC) truck and detaining him overnight at his Pune residence. In Khedkar's bail application, filed through advocate Abhishek Yende, he claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case. He told the court that following the recent Lok Sabha elections, a fake narrative was created to falsely and maliciously implicate him. Justice NR Borkar accepted the arguments and granted anticipatory bail to Khedkar, who had approached the high court after the sessions court at Belapur rejected his pre-arrest bail plea on October 8. According to the Rabale police in Navi Mumbai, the case stems from an incident that took place in the evening of September 13, when the RMC truck hit Khedkar's luxury Land Cruiser SUV. Khedkar and another person who accompanied him, then fought with the truck driver, Chandkumar Chavan, and forced the helper, Pralhad Kumar to get into their car. The police said Khedkar took away Kumar's phone and took him to his Pune residence, where he was detained overnight in the basement-allegedly to recover the amount of damages from the truck owner, Vilas Dhengare. Chavan informed Dhengare about the accident and alleged kidnapping of the helper, prompting the truck owner to approach the police and report the incident. Based on Dengare's complaint, the Rabale police registered an FIR early in the morning on September 14. Based on the SUV's number plate, the police identified its owner and approached the Chatushrungi police station in Pune in and rescued the helper from Khedkar's house. The 61-year-old also claimed that after the accident, the truck driver and the helper requested him to not report the matter to the police and offered to pay him the amount of damages caused to the SUV. The group then decided to get the damaged car assessed at a garage in Pune, and took the helper to Khedkar's house after they did not find any proper garage along the road. The accused argued that the kidnapping and extortion charges against him were not applicable. Yende argued that there was nothing on record to show Khedkar's involvement in the case and since the police had nothing to recover from him, his custody or custodial interrogation was not necessary. This is not the first time the Khedkar family has been caught in a controversy. His daughter, Puja Khedkar had been accused of misrepresenting facts in her application for the UPSC civil services examinations to avail reservation benefits. Puja had also allegedly demanded a separate office, an official car, staff and quarters, none of which she was entitled to as an assistant collector....