Court rejects Mehul Choksi plea challenging cognisance of CBI chargesheet

The appeal claimed the court had passed the order taking cognizance in a ‘lightning speed’ on the same day as the chargesheet was filed. It was also claimed that there was no specific role attributed to them and that it was passed without perusing records of the case.

“In the present case, the learned magistrate has passed the order, not only after perusing the chargesheet i.e. final report and documents filed along with it and it found that there is sufficient material on record for taking cognizance,” special judge J P Darekar said.

The magistrate court had passed an order on April 17, 2025, taking cognizance of the chargesheet filed under sections pertaining to cheating and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code. The court had also issued notices against seven accused.

The CBI’s special counsel A Limosin had opposed the plea stating that it was an attempt by Choksi to “delay and derail” ongoing extradition proceedings initiated against him at Belgium.

The court accepted the CBI’s contention that the magistrate taking cognizance does not require to read the entire chargesheet in depth.

“..the order under challenge is not mechanical, cryptic or without application of mind or without perusing the material on record. It is clear that the impugned order does not suffer from impropriety, incorrectness and illegality,” the court said in its order on February 2.

The trial in the CBI or the ED case against Choksi’s co-accused is yet to begin.