Lawyer accused of forging docus gets pre-arrest bail
MUMBAI: The sessions court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to advocate Shekhar Jagtap in connection with the case registered with Colaba police for allegedly forging letters appointing Jagtap as special public prosecutor (SPP) in matters related to the builder Shyam Sundar Agrawal and his rival Sanjay Punamiya.
The detailed copy was made available on Saturday.
It was alleged that Jagtap, the lawyer, appeared as special prosecutor in court in several cases and tried to help Shyam Sundar Agrawal, the builder, including by arguing against bail for a rival builder.
According to the police, in February 2021, an FIR was registered against Agrawal and gangster Chhota Shakeel for extortion and criminal intimidation, based on a complaint by Sanjay Punamiya, the rival builder.
Sections of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) were added in the case later and it was transferred to the crime branch, followed by the state CID.
The forged letters, signed by deputy secretary Kishore Bhalerao, came to light after Punamiya filed a right-to-information application. According to Punamiya’s latest complaint, in January 2022, Jagtap appeared as the special public prosecutor in the case where Agarwal and Chhota Shakeel were charged under MCOCA, and tried to get the case closed, said a police officer.
In a separate order, Bhalerao was also granted pre-arrest bail. The court noted that owing to Bhalerao’s transfer during the COVID-19 pandemic-affected period, no post-facto sanction/ approval could be taken to the appointment. “Though nothing can be commented about the genuineness of this contention of the applicant at this stage, but least it can be said that there is some substance in the contentions of the applicant,” the court observed while granting pre-arrest bail to Bhalerao.
“It is clear from the FIR that as the applicant (Jagtap) had opposed the bail application of the informant, the informant has some grudge against the applicant. This factor also needs to be considered at this stage,” the order granting pre-arrest bail to Jagtap stated.
The court added that there cannot be any straight jacket formula to grant or refuse the anticipatory bail.
“Court is expected to decide the application considering the gravity of offence, seriousness of punishment, role attributed against the applicant, chances of applicant fleeing from justice or influencing the investigation, need of custodial investigation, background in which the allegations are made, prima facie material supporting the allegations and all attending circumstances around it. These are of course not exclusive factors,” additional sessions judge SD Tawshikar said while granting pre-arrest bail.