Pune: The Bombay High Court has declared the arrest and police custody of Sheetal Tejwani illegal in a case involving alleged government cheating and evasion of stamp duty worth crores. The court ordered her immediate release on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 along with a surety.
Her arrest in the Seva Bank scam has also been said to be illegal. Both these cases have been registered with the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police.
The court found that the Pimpri-Chinchwad police failed to inform Tejwani of the reasons for her arrest. This was seen as a violation of her basic rights. The judges said that proper legal procedure was not followed, making the arrest unlawful.
The first case was registered by the Bavdhan Police Station (under the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate) in connection with a stamp duty evasion in a land deal case in Koregaon Park. Then another case was registered at the Khadak Police Station (under the Pune City Police Commissionerate) for the alleged land scam in Koregaon Park itself.
She had earlier received a notice under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, asking her to appear before the police. However, when she was taken into custody, the reasons were not clearly explained to her.
The case is linked to the sale of 40 acres of government land in Koregaon Park. The land originally belonged to the Botanical Survey of India. It was later sold to Amedia, a company in which Rajya Sabha MP Parth Pawar is a partner. Police alleged that there was large-scale cheating of the government through evasion of stamp duty during the deal.
Taken Custody Through Production Warrant
Apart from Tejwani, the case also names Digvijay Patil, director of Amedia, and Ravindra Taru, a joint sub-registrar. Tejwani is accused of acting as a power of attorney holder in the transaction.
On 16th December 2025, Bavdhan police took Tejwani into custody using a production warrant while she was already in jail in the case handled by Pune police. A Judicial Magistrate First Class had granted police custody at that time. Later, the Additional Sessions Court in Shivajinagar rejected her bail plea.
Tejwani then moved the High Court by filing a writ petition through her lawyers, Ajay Bhise and Deepali Kedar. Her legal team argued that the police had only issued notices as a formality and did not genuinely follow legal requirements. They also said that the grounds of arrest were never told to her at the time of detention.
Arrest By CID Illegal
The High Court agreed with these arguments. It said that informing an accused person about the reason for arrest is a basic legal right. Since this was not done, the arrest could not be justified.
In another related matter, the High Court also declared Tejwani’s arrest by the State CID illegal. This case involved an alleged loan default of ₹7.25 crore linked to Seva Vikas Bank. The case was registered at the Pimpri Police Station (under the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate).
Tejwani was arrested in that case on 3rd January 2026. However, the court noted that even in this instance, she was not informed of the reasons for her arrest. The judges said this again violated constitutional and legal safeguards.
With both arrests now declared illegal, the court has stressed the need for police to strictly follow due process and protect individual rights during investigations.
Arrest Made By Pune Police Continues…
Although arrests made by Bavdhan Police and State CID were said to be illegal, the arrest made by Pune Police was legal and followed everything needed, noted the court.
While upholding her arrest as legal in the alleged Mundhwa land scam made by Pune Police, the court stressed that strict adherence to constitutional safeguards in arrest procedures cannot be diluted even in serious economic offences.
Justice N J Jamadar was hearing three petitions challenging Tejwani’s arrests, remand orders and continued detention in separate cases involving alleged land and banking frauds.
