QMumbai: Payal Tadvi Case Update from Bombay HC; Farm Loan Fraud
The latest in the Payal Tadvi suicide case and other city stories.
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1. Payal Tadvi Suicide: Accused Not Hardcore Criminals, No Need for Police Custody, Says HC
The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday refused to grant Mumbai Police’s crime branch custody of the three doctors charged with abetting the suicide of Dr Payal Tadvi. Observing that Dr Hema Ahuja, Dr Bhakti Mehare and Dr Ankita Khandelwal are not “hardcore criminals”, the court said the crime branch can take them out of Byculla Jail between 9am and 6pm for interrogation, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The crime branch had approached the HC on Tuesday seeking custody of Dr Ahuja, Dr Mehare and Dr Khandelwal. On Thursday, justice SS Shinde heard the crime branch’s plea.
Appearing for the crime branch, advocate Raja Thakare said the investigation was transferred to the crime branch on May 30 and it did not get an opportunity to interrogate the three doctors since a lower court did not grant the crime branch custody of the accused. Thakare said it was necessary to subject the trio, who had not cooperated with Agripada police, to custodial interrogation.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Maharashtra: Shiv Sena to Distribute Foodgrain to Drought-Hit Farmers
The Shiv Sena has decided to distribute food grains to drought-hit farmers staying at fodder camps in various districts in the state on Sunday.
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According to Sena leaders, the food grains would be distributed to farmers from Jalna, Osmanabad, Aurangabad, Beed, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Samara and Nashik districts.
“Party president Uddhav Thackeray will distribute the food grains to the farmers at fodder camps in Salegoan village in Jalna district in Marathwada on Sunday. After distributing the food grains, Thackeray will interact with the drought-hit farmers,” said Subhash Desai, a Sena leader.
Desai added that Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray will distribute the food grains in Solapur and Osmanabad and also visit some of the fodder camps in the two districts.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. Farm Loan Fraud: ED Conducts Searches at 10 Places in State
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted searches at 10 locations in the State in connection with a ₹328-crore loan fraud case registered against Ratnakar Gutte, a local leader of the Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP) from Parbhani. The RSP is an alliance partner of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In 2017, the Gangakhed police in Parbhani had registered an FIR against Mr. Gutte, chairman of M/s. Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Private Ltd. (GSEPL), and others after it came to light that loans had been taken from six banks in the name of 8,000 to 10,000 farmers using bogus documents. The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court subsequently directed the Economic Offences Wing to probe the matter and the ED, too, initiated its own investigations.
“Based on inquiries so far, searches were conducted on Thursday at 10 locations, three in Mumbai and others in Parbhani, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Documents pertaining to the loans availed from the banks and the details of the farmers submitted in the process have been seized,” an ED officer said.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. ATS Suspects ‘Love’ Angle in Shalimar Express Bomb Hoax
Amid reports, ranging from a hoax to a possible terror plot, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has found that the ‘bomb’ found aboard the Shalimar Express on Wednesday seems to have stemmed from a much more basic and age-old reason: love for a woman.
The device, which consisted of firecracker shells and wiring, was found aboard the train at 9.15 a.m. on Wednesday after it entered the yard at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. The Railway Protection Force, the Tilak Nagar police, and the ATS conducted a thorough sweep before declaring it harmless, while social media buzzed with rumours throughout the day.
According to police sources, the first lead in the investigation came with the device itself. Whoever had placed it on the train had also slipped in a photograph and a piece of paper with two cell phone numbers on it.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. Bombay HC Sets Aside Death Penalty of Man, Asks State Govt to Pay Rs 10 Lakh to Child’s Parents
Setting aside the death sentence handed out by a trial court to a man for murder and life imprisonment for raping a child in January 2012, the Bombay High Court held him guilty only of destruction of evidence and ordered his release from prison as he had already served the seven years imprisonment the charge attracted.
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In a case in which the police’s story of sexual assault and murder of an eight-year-old child came undone, the High Court also directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the child’s parents “for negligent investigation into death of their daughter”. The court also acquitted another man accused of destroying evidence.
The case dates back to January 1, 2012 when the girl’s father lodged a missing complaint for his daughter. A day later, he was called to the morgue to identify the body of a child he said was his daughter. The next day, he told police he had heard talk of some person “working in an advertising firm” who had killed a child and disposed the body. On January 3, the accused was arrested.
(Source: Indian Express)
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