Warrants against Harshad Mehta cancelled

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Usha Iyer cancelled the warrants after Harshad and Hitesh appeared before her court at 11:00 am.

The magistrate had issued warrants against them on June 14 when they failed to turn up for the trial. However, she had stayed the warrants after their lawyer Pranav Badheka urged for their exemption for the day. They were directed to appear in person on or before June 20.

On a query by the court, Badheka today said Harshad could not appear on an earlier occasion because he was unwell. His brother Hitesh was a doctor by profession and could not appear because he was on emergency duty on that day, he told the court.

Non-bailable warrants had also been issued on June 14 against two other brothers of the Big Bull, Sudhir and Ashwin. However, since they appeared before the magistrate the same day, the warrants were cancelled.

The other two accused, Jivraj Java and Niranjan Shah, were represented by their advocates and hence non-bailable warrants were not issued against them. Jivraj has been allowed by the HC to go abroad on a business tour.

Harshad and his three brothers, Niranjan and Jivraj have now been directed to appear on June 28 to stand trial in a case filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly using six lakh dollars in the scam.