Bookie Anil Jaisinghani and his brother Nirmal Jaisinghani have approached the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the FIR registered against them following an alleged extortion complaint lodged by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s wife, Amruta Fadnavis, stating that the allegations are “concocted and politically motivated”.
The Malabar Hill police had registered an FIR on March 20 against Anil and his daughter Aniksha for allegedly blackmailing Amruta Fadnavis and trying to extort ₹10 crore from her.
On Thursday, Jaisinghani’s advocate mentioned the plea before a division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and RN Laddha seeking an urgent hearing of the plea. The HC has kept the matter for hearing on March 27.
Jaisinghani has claimed in the petition that he was picked up by Gujarat police from Godhara on March 19 at around 11.45 pm. His custody was then handed over to the Mumbai police despite there being an FIR against him at Ahmedabad.
The Mumbai police did not take his transit remand from the nearest magistrate after taking him into custody.
Also, he was produced before a sessions court in Mumbai on March 21 at 11 am, which is after more than 36 hours of arrest. The law mandates that an arrested accused be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours.
Allegation are 'concocted' and 'politically motivated'
Seeking quashing of the FIR, the plea states that the allegations in the FIR are “concocted and politically motivated”.
There was non-compliance of mandate under section 41 and 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code, hence his arrest “illegal”, states his petition. Section 41A lays down that a notice shall be issued first to a person named as accused in a case and s/he shall be arrested only when required.
“Merely stating in the order that it is due compliance of Section 41 to 41A of the Cr. P.C. is not sufficient in view of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court… It is not an empty formality,” read the plea.
Hence he has sought quashing of the remand order passed by the sessions court terming it as “illegal” and in violation of the Constitution of India.
FIR 'ill-conceived' claims Jaisinghani
Jaisinghani has claimed that the FIR is “ill-conceived” and “not according to the letter of the law” and that they have been “pulled into the matter unnecessarily”. The plea states that his name was not mentioned in the FIR and that he has been cooperating with the police.
“The present FIR is totally based on concocted and fictitious facts, which are mentioned only to falsely implicate the present petitioner,” adds the plea.
Apart from quashing the FIR, his plea has sought that his arrest be declared illegal and the remand order of the sessions judge be quashed.
Pending hearing in the petition, he has sought that he be released on bail.
