A day after the Supreme Court accused her of “bias” and acting in a “high-handed manner” while granting police the custody of a Surat-based builder, the judge, Sixth Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Deepa S Thaker, went on leave from Wednesday. It was not immediately known why the ACJM went on leave a day after the SC held her and suspended inspector R Y Raval of Vesu police station, guilty of its contempt for sending Surat-based builder Tushar Shah to police custody in a cheating case, disregarding the fact that he was granted pre-arrest bail by the top court. The quantum of punishment is set to be pronounced on September 2. The SC bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta had said, “The accused-petitioner (Shah) had to be released on bail in the event of arrest. The action of (ACJM), in granting police custody of the petitioner and in failing to release him upon completion of the aforesaid period, is clearly in teeth of this court’s order dated December 8, 2023 and tantamounts to contempt.” The ACJM’s “contumacious actions also contributed to the illegal detention of the petitioner for almost 48 hours after the period of police remand had come to an end”, it had added. According to the case details, Vesu resident Abhishek Goswami (29), who runs a real estate business, had on July 21, 2023 filed a complaint at Vesu police station, accusing Shreshta Developers and its partners – Bhavin Patel, Pradeep Tamakuwala, Vasant Patel, Tushar Shah, Sumeet Goenka, Raju Singh, Omkar Singh – of cheating and criminal conspiracy. The FIR lodged based on the complaint alleged that Goswami had given Rs 1.65 crore in cash and 9 cheques worth Rs 54 lakh in all to Shah and Goenka at different times in 2023 to purchase 15 shops, each worth Rs 15 lakh, at Solarium Business Centre in Vesu. Goswami kept a diary that contained details of his transactions with Shah and Goenka, it added. In his complaint, Goswami alleged that before initiating a deal with Shah and Goenka, he had spoken about the same with Bhavin Patel, the main owner of Shreshta Developers. He claimed that Shah and Goenka had neither drawn up sale deeds nor handed over possession of these shops or returned the money. Anticipating arrest, Shah moved an anticipatory bail plea before the Surat principal district and sessions judge court on July 27, 2023, which was rejected on August 1, 2023. After his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by Gujarat High Court on October 5, 2023, Shah approached SC, which granted him pre-arrest bail on December 8, 2023. Acting on the order, Shah appeared before investigating officer R Y Raval at Vesu police station on December 11, 2023. He was arrested and released on a bail bond of Rs 25,000 the same day. He was then asked to appear at the police station on December 12 to record his statement. On December 12, when Shah arrived at the police station, he was arrested again in the cheating case and produced before the ACJM the next day. The court sent him to four days of police custody in connection to the cheating case. During his remand period, he was allegedly tortured by the police personnel at Vesu police station. Shah was then sent Surat Central Jail, from where he was released on bail on December 18, 2023. Following this, Shah moved an application before ACJM Thakar, seeking action against police officers who had beaten him up during his police custody at Vesu police station in the presence of Goswani. The ACJM rejected the application January 6, 2024. The next day, Shah moved a special leave petition before the SC through his lawyer I H Syed.
