The special holiday court has refused to grant interim protection to advocate Shekhar Jagtap booked by Colaba police for forgery of documents related to his appointment as special public prosecutor (PP). Jagtap had approached the sessions court with anticipatory bail plea and sought urgent protection from arrest.
Court Directs Continuation of Anticipatory Bail Plea with Same Judge
The court has scheduled a hearing on Saturday. Public prosecutor Ramesh Siroya objected to the plea. Moreover, during the hearing on Saturday, it was brought to the notice of the court that another judge, Dr Swapnil Tawshikar, has already been hearing a plea for anticipatory bail by another accused Kishor Bhalerao, joint secretary working in the law and judiciary department.
Hence, the holiday judge MG Deshpande directed the plea to be placed before the same judge, observing, Judge Tawashikar has already heard the case and passed a detailed order while granting anticipatory bail to Bhalerao.
“The said order clearly indicates that he has made out his mind and this successive anticipatory bail application by this applicant in the same crime has to be dealt with by the same court,” Judge Deshpande said.
Colaba Police Register Case Against Advocate Jagtap
The Colaba police has registered the case on the complaint of builder Sanjay Punamiya, who has alleged that Jagtap, despite representing the state, assisted builder Shamsunder Agarwal in the Rs15 crore extortion case in which former Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh was also named. Jagtap is also accused of fabricating documents with the help of Bhalerao and submitting them to secure the role of special PP.
As per the FIR lodged by the Colaba police, Jagtap acted as Agarwal’s private lawyer during the first remand proceeding of a Marine Drive police station extortion case, which led to Punamiya’s arrest and implicated Param Bir Singh.
