In a reprieve for former Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan and his personal assistant Rameshwar Naik, the Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday restrained the Pune Police from taking any coercive steps against them in connection with an offence registered at Kothrud police station in Pune.
The division bench of justice SS Shinde and justice MS Karnik granted the relief to the BJP legislator and his assistant, after their counsel, senior advocate Milind Sathe, pointed out that the offence was registered on December 9 this year, around three years after the alleged incident which took place in first week of January 2018.
The offence was originally registered at Nimbhora police station in Jalgaon district on December 9 on the basis of a complaint lodged by advocate Vijay Patil, trustee of Jalgaon District Maratha Vidya Prasarak Samaj, which runs several educational institutes in the district.
The first information report (FIR) was later transferred to Kothrud police station for investigation as the incident had taken place within its jurisdiction.
Patil, in his complaint to the police, alleged he was invited by some persons to Pune under the guise of collecting some documents connected with the trust. However, when he reached Pune he was first taken to a hotel and then to a flat where he threatened with dire consequences if he and others failed to resign from the trust.
He alleged he was told by his alleged kidnappers in clear terms that Girishbhau (Mahajan) wanted to take control over the trust, and therefore wanted Patil and other trustees to resign.
Claiming that the complaint was nothing but a concocted story, Sathe pointed out that no act has been attributed to the former minister and the complaint merely makes some references to him but the references do not amount to any offence.
The senior advocate further submitted the delay of about three years goes to the root of the matter and the FIR was liable to be quashed on that ground itself.
HC found substance in his submissions and restrained police from taking any coercive action against Mahajan and Naik till January 7, 2021, when the petitions filed by them are posted for further hearing. HC has also called for the record of the case.
