Man sent to custody after bail, SC holds judge, cop guilty of contempt

Shah was arrested by the Vesu police in a `1.65-crore cheating case even after he had secured anticipatory bail in the case from the Supreme Court on December 8, 2023.

As per case details, when Shah went to Vesu police station with the SC’s anticipatory bail order on December 11, 2023, he was arrested and released on a bail bond of `25,000 the same day. He was then asked to appear before the police 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 lodged on July 27, 2023. During his remand period, he was allegedly tortured by the police personnel. Shah was then sent to Surat Central Jail, from where he was released on bail after a few days. Following this, he moved a contempt petition before the SC on January 7.

The SC said in its order that in the remand application, investigating officer Raval’s portrayal of Shah not cooperating in the probe was “cooked up” and an attempt to “draw wool over the court’s eyes”.

Maintaining that Raval had only investigated the matter for a few hours on December 12, 2023, and immediately sought police custody from the ACJM, the SC said the application seeking Shah’s custody “does not indicate that he had not cooperated in the investigation”. The SC said “there was not even a shred of bonafide in the actions” of the IO while seeking custody of the accused on the ground of non-cooperation.