Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday restrained the Mumbai police till March 30 from filing chargesheet against former city mayor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar in a case alleging fraud by acquiring SRA flats in Worli using forged documents
A division bench headed by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere directed the police while hearing a plea filed by Pednekar seeking quashing of the FiR registered against her contending that she had been “falsely implicated” in the case.
Allegation against Pednekar
A complaint was registered at Nirmal Nagar police station by an SRA official alleging that Pednekar acquired a flat which was in the name of one Gangaram Boga in the Gomata Janata SRA society in Worli. The complainant alleged that in 2008, the flat was allotted to Boga, but Pednekar mentioned it as her property in the 2017 civic body polls.
Pednekar, her son Saiprasad Pednekar and two others have been booked in the case for cheating and forgery.
Her plea contends that the complaint against her is “tainted with Mala fides, politically motivated and made with an ulterior motive”.
The former mayor has said that the allegations in the complaint are mainly against the co- Accused and she is only alleged to have “advantage of her official position” and taken the said flat on rent in violation of Maharashtra Slum Area (I.C and R) Act. Besides, there is nothing to show that she prepared any forged or used any forged documents as genuine documents.
What the SRA rules say
In her plea, Pednekar has admitted that she was residing in that flat on rent on a leave and license basis. The building had completed 10 years in 2017 and hence there was no question of violation of SRA rules. As per SRA rules, flat owners are not supposed to rent out the properties for at least 10 years from the allotment of the flats.
However, Pednekar has claimed that she had vacated the flat and is in possession of the authorities.
“It is pertinent to note that the petitioner is a senior citizen who has lived her entire life with honesty, and respect. Therefor initiation and continuation of criminal proceedings on the basis of above facts warrant the invocation of writ jurisdiction of this court to give justice to the petitioner,” adds her plea seeking quashing of the FIR.
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