June 24: The Bombay High Court has ordered reopening of four shoe shops of Amirali Ismail Jaffer, the brother-in-law of cobbler scam accused Rafique Tejani.The division bench of Justice V P Tipnis and A N Palkar ruled that these four properties had no direct connection with the shoe scam, except that Mumtaz Amirali is the sister of Rafique Tejani and the seizure of three co-operative societies' (Navyug, Jaybharat, Jaihind) invoices showed sales in the name of these shops.However, no material was found from these shops to indicate any fraudulent acts, the court ruled. These shops were not named in the crime report registered against Tejani and Saddruddin Daya, both accused of floating cobblers' co-operative societies, the court observed.The Amirali couple moved the court praying for removal of the seal on the premises of the four shoe shops, which were closed by crime branch, CID. The four establishments include Cheemo Leather Boutique at Metro House (Colaba), Cheemo at Hotel Oberoi Towers, office premises at Ama House (near Strand theatre) and Cheemo outlet at Bandra.The court ruled that these shops should be unsealed by 11 am on June 24. An inventory of all articles inside the shop premises will be taken in the presence of CID officers up to 5 pm on June 25. The petitioners were ordered to execute a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh each before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate, 37th court, Esplanade before 5 pm on June 24.
