MCOCA court plans to recall its own bail order for 3 Pujari gang members

MUMBAI: A fortnight after granting bail to three alleged members of the Ravi Pujari gang booked in two separate cases, the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court has started the process for recalling its order after realising that it had not taken into consideration the provisions of MCOCA.

The special MCOCA judge RR Bhosale had granted bail to the trio — Bipin Patil, Asif Abdul Sattar Khan and Sufiyan Dilshad Shaikh — who have been booked in separate cases.

Khan and Shaikh were booked in connection with the firing at filmmaker Karim Morani house and were granted bail on August 3 and August 17 respectively.

Patil, charged for conspiring to attack a Dombivli-based builder, was granted bail on August 18.

The three were granted bail primarily on the grounds that they had already spent half of the maximum sentence prescribed for the offences for which they were booked.

The court has now issued notices to defence and prosecution for recalling the order of granting bail to the trio and to take them in custody.

“It was later brought to the notice of the court that the accused are also booked under the stringent provisions of MCOCA and if found guilty for the charges, they can be sentenced to life imprisonment,” said Pradeep Gharat, a special public prosecutor in the Morani firing case.

“While passing that order, the statutory provisions of imprisonment for offences punishable under MCOCA were not dealt with,” said the notice issued by the court on Thursday.

The defence, however, objected to this and said the court cannot cancel bail granted by it and recall its own order.

The defence has now sought time to file a detailed reply.

The court is scheduled to hear the matter again next week.

AFTER MAHAD BLDG COLLAPSE