Bombay HC asks Sameer Wankhede to appear before Thane police in forgery case; no coercive action till Feb 28

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Thane police not to take any coercive action against the NCBrsquos former zonal director Sameer Wankhede till February 28 in connection with an FIR for forgery and wilful misrepresentation while procuring liquor license for his restaurant and bar in 1997A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N R Borkar said Wankhede shall appear before the Thane police on February 23 Wednesday pursuant to the summons issued to him and extend his full cooperation with the investigationldquoWithout going into the merits of the case in the peculiar circumstances and facts of the case interim protection from any coercive action can be givenrdquo the court saidThe court noted that there was nothing urgent in the matter and posted it for hearing on February 28ldquoThere are so many prisoners languishing in jail since years and we are unable to take up their petitions for hearingrdquo Justice Shinde saidJustice Borkar questioned the policersquos intentions for taking Wankhede into custody in a case dating back to 1997ldquoIt is an offence on 1997 What are you police going to do nowrdquo Justice Borkar askedThe court was informed by public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai that the police had on February 20 issued a notice to Wankhede under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code CrPC asking him to appear before it on February 23Wankhedersquos advocates Aabad Ponda and Niranjan Mundargi then said that he was ready to appear before the police but due to the sensitive nature of the case and there is apprehension that there was political pressure on the police no coercive action should be taken against him till the next date of hearing on the petitionldquoHe Wankhede was a minor in 1997 There cannot be a FIR in the case The offences under which he has been booked are punishable only up to seven yearsrdquo Ponda saidMaharashtra minister Nawab Malik sought to intervene in the matter ldquoThere are some allegations made in the petition against the minister and hence he would like to respond to the samerdquo Malikrsquos advocate Feroze Bharucha saidldquoIf Wankhede is willing to delete these allegations from the petition then the minister will not intervenerdquo Bharucha saidWankhede had on Monday moved the High Court seeking for the FIR to be quashed and interim protection from any coercive actionThe FIR was lodged against Wankhede by the state excise department in Thanersquos Kopari police station As per the complaint the documents submitted to them in 1997 for procuring licence for selling liquor in a restaurant and bar in Wankhedersquos name were forgedWankhede was a minor 17yearold when the liquor licence was procured in his name the complaint statedThe petition alleges action ldquopursuant to directions and political pressure stemming from personal vendetta of state Cabinet Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik against WankhedeIn the plea Wankhede said he was a minor at the time of the alleged offence and hence should be heard by the Juvenile Justice Board as per provisions of the Juvenile Justice ActldquoThe petitioner most vehemently submits that admittedly as per the contents of the FIR the accused was 17 years of age when the alleged crime had taken place vide the mother of the Petitioner That by virtue of the Petitioner being merely 17 years of age he was not a major during the commission of the alleged crimerdquo the plea saidThe law of the land does not acknowledge that a minor had the capacity to orchestrate the entire crime at hand it saidThe petitioner was merely in college when the alleged offence is said to have taken place and was merely signing documents where he was asked by his mother the plea statedThe petition also said that since he was a public officer prior sanction ought to have been taken before lodging the FIRWankhede has been booked under sections 181 false statement to a public servant 420 cheating 465 forgery and 468 forgery for the purpose of cheating of the IPC PTI SP ARU ARUThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever