Mumbai Sessions Court on Saturday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Avinash Jadhav, who was charged for extortion of Rs 5 crores from a gold dealer in the city.
The court, while rejecting the anticipatory bail, observed that all the sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including extortion, that Jadhav was charged under, were bailable so there was no question of any arrest being made in the case.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray was scheduled to hold a rally for BJP candidate and union minister Narayan Rane on Saturday and Jadhav was said to have reached Kankavli in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency for the same.
However, post the registration of an FIR at LT Marg police station in Mumbai, it is said that a team of policemen had left for Kankavali to “arrest” Jadhav.
Swinging into swift action, a team of lawyers, Advocate Rajendra Shirodkar and Advocate Archit Sakhalkar immediately approached the Sessions Court, seeking some relief from coercive action against their client Jadhav.
Jadhav’s lawyers argued that if the offences are bailable, then there can not be arrest and that too without notice to the accused, but in spite of it, a team of policemen tried to reach Kankavali to arrest him.
Sessions Court Judge NP Tribhuwan noted that as the offences are bailable, the provision of Anticipatory bail was not available to an accused and there was no question of an arrest being effected in a case where an accused is charged only with bailable offences.
The detailed order in the case has not yet been made available but the court said that the offences alleged by the police in FIR against Jadhav are bailable in nature.
Published On:
May 5, 2024