2 cases against Sena men pending in Nagpur courts

While the 9th first class judicial magistrate A Z Khan has issued summons against Thackeray, Raut and Desai directing them to appear before the court on August 17 in a defamation case, a division bench of the high court here has given two weeks to the CBI and the State’s Chief secretary to file their reports in connection with the complaints against Joshi.

The suit against Thackeray and the other two, filed by an NCP activist Kishore Kanhere, seeks action against the three for defamatory material published in the Sena mouthpiece in 1997 against the then opposition leader and now deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal. The PIL filed against Joshi by local journalist Mohan Tripathi contends that when the former was the state Chief Minister he misused his authority and violated set norms by accepting gifts worth crores of rupees, including a diamond-studded necklace, at a bash thrown in on the occasion of his 60th birthday at a Mumbai school on December 2, 1997.

The division bench comprising Justice S P Kulkarni andstice P S Brahme on July 13 directed the CBI director and Maharashtra Chief Secretary to present before the court within two weeks their findings on the allegations.

In the PIL against Joshi in the high court, petitioner Mohan Tripathi has alleged that on December 2, 1997 a grand bash including a laser show was arranged at a school in Dadar (west).

Besides other costly gifts, a necklace studded with 60 diamonds was allegedly received by Joshi, the petitioner contended.

Wizcraft, which had organised the Michael Jackson show in Mumbai, was the event manager for the Joshi bash, the petitioner alleged and contended that as a public servant Joshi had no right to accept such costly gifts.

The petitioner had on December 12, 1997 filed a complaint with the State Governor and also brought the matter to the notice of the CBI. When he failed to get a satisfactory response, he moved the court.

On February 3, 1998, the high court dismissed his petition when the CBI counsel assured the court that the investigating agency had received the complaint and was looking into the matter.

However, on a fresh petition filed by Tripathy contending that the CBI and the state government had failed to take any action against Joshi, the high court on July 13 issued orders to the CBI and the state Chief Secretary to file their reports regarding their investigations into the allegations against Joshi.