A Mumbai sessions court has given anticipatory bail to a suspended policeman in a cheating case wherein he allegedly cheated a man of Rs. 17 lakhs after promising a Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) flat at lower than the market rate by using his position as the bodyguard of the then state housing minister.
Additional Sessions Judge Abhijeet A. Nandgaonkar in his order stated that the applicant Nitin Gaikwad is suspended, but he will be very well available for inquiry in the matter.
It directed him to attend the police station every Monday. The order also said that this will facilitate the investigation, suffice the purpose and that custodial interrogation is not required, looking into the accusations.
Gaikwad had told the court in his application that he knew the informant since 2011 and his wife was in need of money for her company ‘Parth Constructions’ for which the informant had given her Rs. 25 lakhs. His wife had returned Rs. 8 lakhs, he added.
The court said that prima-facie there is a connection between the transactions and whether there is allurement or inducement of allotting MHADA tenement at a lower price is part of an investigation. It also added that a detailed investigation will unearth the nexus between the informant, applicant and alleged transaction with the wife’s company.
The police had opposed his plea informing the court that despite notice he had not attended the inquiry and that investigation regarding his associates and cheques used in the crime is to be made.
As per the complaint, the informant was in need of a big room for his family. He came in touch with Gaikwad through his brother-in-law. Gaikwad had told the brother-in-law that he could help anyone who wanted MHADA flats at a below-market rate as he used to work as a bodyguard for the housing minister. Between 2011 and 2015 Gaikwad had taken Rs. 25 lakhs from the informant and then returned Rs. 8 lakhs. He had allegedly taken blank cheques and misused them.
