Maharashtra: Court grants interim protection to law dept, joint secy in SPP case

The Marine Drive police had filed an FIR under offences including cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code.

The court adjourned the matter till March 11

A sessions court on Thursday granted interim protection to the joint secretary, law and judiciary, government of Maharashtra, in a cheating case filed in connection with the appointment of a special public prosecutor during the previous government’s rule.

The Marine Drive police had filed an FIR under offences including cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code. Special public prosecutor (SPP) Shekhar Jagtap, joint secretary, Kishore Bhalerao, and others were named for allegedly defrauding the Bombay High Court, Mumbai sessions court and Thane district sessions court and the government by appearing in a slew of high-profile cases and allegedly helping an accused builder named in the case.

Bhalerao had approached the court seeking pre-arrest bail in the case, submitting that while it was claimed that there were no records to show letters of appointment of Jagtap, the allegations pertain to the lockdown during Covid-19 pandemic when the secretariat was functioning on oral orders from superiors due to staff crunch. Bhalerao also submitted that there was a letter issued by the then Home Minister stating that the appointment of Jagtap was on his instructions.

The court said that it appears that Bhalerao is under suspension since January 29, 2024, and till the state files a reply on the authenticity of the letter, it would be “just and proper” to protect the applicant. The court adjourned the matter till March 11, to hear the parties involved, while directing that in the event of arrest of the Bhalerao, in connection with the Marine Drive case, he shall be released with conditions.

Jagtap, too, approached the Bombay High Court for quashing.

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