HC stays lower court’s order on contempt by cops

Udayanraje Bhosale, the 13th descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji and BJP candidate in the last Assembly elections, was arrested on September 11 last along with 14 others on the charge of killing NCP activist Sharad Lehve on the eve of polls. Since then he has been lodged in jail and his bail plea was also rejected by the Satara court on January 27.

Meanwhile, Udayanraje moved an application before the Sessions judge pleading he was in a hotel at the time of the NCP activist’s murder and claimed he was closeted in a room along with his party colleagues to plan strategy for the elections which were to be held the next day.

Udayanraje alleged police had not examined this `vital’ aspect of the case and pleaded for a direction to the investigating agency for interrogating party workers and the hotel staff to ascertain the truth. Accordingly, the judge ordered police to probe on these lines.

Police did make inquiries but allegedly failed to follow the court’s order in toto, thus inviting contempt. Udayanraje, thereafter, moved an application urging the judge to take action against police for contempt.

The judge, A D Bhosale, issued a notice on February 1 asking police to show cause why they had not followed his directives as regards interrogating the hotel staff and also political colleagues of the accused.

Aggrieved by the lower court’s order, the state filed a petition in HC pleading an accused had no right to ask police for interrogating the persons whom he chose. There was no provision under CRPC or any other law wherein such a grievance could be pleaded.

The prosecution argued the judge had erred by issuing contempt notice against police because the investigations were inconclusive. Hence the order of February 1 was illegal and deserved to be quashed.

Bhosale, who unsuccessfully contested as a BJP candidate from Satara, pleaded he has been “falsely” implicated in the crime due to political rivalry. At the time of the alleged murder, he was in hotel Rajtara and had not ventured out for long hours, he claimed.

The prosecution, however, contended that Lehve was the supporter of Abhaysingh Bhosale, Udayanraje’s uncle who had contested as an NCP candidate.

The prosecution’s case is that on the eve of election, Lehve was seen moving around in a gypsy van. He was spotted by the accused and his supporters, who allegedly assaulted him with an iron rod. Lehve was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead.