While Prabhat Sharma did not appear at the sessions court, his lawyers requested he not be taken into custody; court granted the plea, but asked that he show up for the Dec 21 hearing
The Sessions court of Vasai yesterday heard the case lodged against Prabhat Sharma, deputy head of Corporate Affairs at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, in Charudatta Deshpande’s (in pic) suicide case. Sharma did not turn up, sending a battery of lawyers instead. Criminal lawyer Abad Ponda, who represented Sharma, stressed that there was no need for his client to be presented in court, and since he was ready to cooperate with investigating police officers, there was no need for custodial interrogation.
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However, the prosecution argued that Sharma could not be found when a police team visited Jamshedpur last week. The court also allowed the complainant Indrajit Gupta to appoint senior criminal lawyer Vijay Sali to represent him, along with the public prosecutor. Sessions judge R M Joshi finally instructed the defence to ensure that Sharma be made present in court for the next hearing, which is to be held on December 21, and the police were instructed not to arrest him till then.
Tata’s response
A response to the e-mail written by Mumbai Press Club President Gurbir Singh to Tata group brand chief Mukund Rajan, said, “We would like to inform you that the committee constituted has submitted its report in the assigned time frame.
The recommendations of the committee are being actioned upon appropriately by the company. Meanwhile, Tata Steel has been fully and openly cooperating with the investigations being carried out by the Mumbai police and will continue to assist the legal process.” The Press Club has decided to make an appeal to Cyrus Mistry and request him to release the findings formally.u00a0
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