Sessions court castigates police

November 2: The City Civil and Sessions Court, while recently granting bail to a person accused of extortion, has passed stringent remarks ...

November 2: The City Civil and Sessions Court, while recently granting bail to a person accused of extortion, has passed stringent remarks against the Mumbai police for ignorance in producing evidence before the court.

Additional sessions judge Shrikant Prabhakar Kukday granted bail to Ajay Gupta, accused of extorting money from businessman Amritpal Singh with the help of Dubai-based gangster Chhota Shakeel. Judge Kukday expressed unhappiness over the condition of the audio cassettes bearing conversations between Singh and an alleged agent of Shakeel.

He remarked: “The two micro audio cassettes have been shown to me. They are not in a sealed cover. The investigating officer is not present today and is represented by sub-inspector T K Kate. "And none of them could answer whether the cassettes were original of copies thereof. It appears that till today, no effort is made to identify the voice allegedly to be that of Gupta by taking the help of an expert. No efforts have been made to ensure that no manipulation is made while recording the conversation. The police should get transcripts of the recorded conversation and observe formalities with respect to preservation and custody of cassettes.”

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While reacting to the slow pace of investigation in an extortion case as serious as one involving Shakeel, the court observed: “Till now, no evidence could be collected to substantiate allegations levelled against Gupta. The complainant alleges that Gupta made him contact an agent of Shakeel in Dubai, and that Shakeel was threatening the complainant over the telephone at Gupta’s instance. "However, the police failed to verify any of these allegations. Gupta has been in custody since September 2, 1997 and still no progress has been made.

"The police are anxious to arrest a certain Vijay Kumar, a railway clerk, for his involvement in the case. But surprisingly, nobody is prepared to say anything about Chhota Shakeel, from whom danger to the complainant’s life exists. "There is no confirmation to the allegation that the complainant received threats from Chhota Shakeel, except his own words. The investigation so far is one-sided. There are discrepancies in the statements which are not verified.

"The veracity of the police report itself is not tested. If the police uncover some evidence justifying Gupta’s detention, they can always come before the court and appropriate orders can be passed. At this stage, there is no material on record to justify detention of the accused.”

Special public prosecutor A G Deshmukh appeared for the state while advocate Ram Jethmalani and Kishorkumar Sutrale defended the accused.

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