Mumbai, Mar 7 (PTI) A court here on Thursday granted interim protection to Maharashtra law and judiciary department joint secretary Kishor Bhalerao in a cheating and forgery case pertaining to the appointment of special public prosecutor.
According to the prosecution, Bhalerao, at the relevant time, was working as deputy secretary (Legal) and he claimed to have issued four letters appointing Shekhar Jagtap as special public prosecutor (SPP) to appear and conduct five criminal cases on behalf of the Maharashtra government.
However, the record of such letters appointing Jagtap as SPP was not available in Mantralaya as per the information provided to the complainant under RTI, the prosecution said.
The prosecution has also claimed no such appointment letters were ever issued.
Police had booked Bhalerao, Jagtap, Sham Sunder Agarwal, Sharad Agarwal and others under Indian Penal Code sections 170 (personating a public servant), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (forgery by using a forged document as genuine), 474 (possessing a forged document with an intention to use it as genuine) and 120 (criminal Conspiracy) in the case.
Additional Sessions Judge Swapnil Tawshikar, who is hearing the anticipatory bail application of Bhalerao, granted him interim protection till March 11 as police sought time to file additional reply.
Advocate S B Talekar, appearing for Bhalerao, told court there was national lockdown on account of the COVID-19 pandemic and not even 5-10 per cent staff was working at the time.
The then additional chief secretary (home) Manukumar Srivastava, then additional chief secretary (appeals and security) Anand Limaye and then home minister Dilip Walse Patil were not attending Mantralaya (state secretariat) regularly, Talekar said.
As a result, the regular practice of preparing office notes, placing it before secretaries, concerned ministers and the chief minister and maintaining record of these was not followed, he said.
Mantralaya was functioning on oral instructions or on directions issued by superiors and ministers and it was impossible to prepare office notes to circulate for approval of superiors, Talekar submitted.
In his anticipatory bail, Bhalerao claimed the complainant in the case, Sanjay Punamiya, enjoyed a good deal of proximity with police personnel in the highest echelons due to his criminal background and dubious credentials.
Therefore, it was quite possible Punamiya must have used his influence to register an offence against the applicant so as to settle personal scores with Jagtap, he said in his anticipatory bail plea.
Punamiya opposed the pre-arrest bail plea of Bhalerao.
The court, after hearing both the sides, said it would be just and proper to protect the applicant till the time prosecution filed additional reply.
The matter will be heard further on March 11, the court said.
Jagtap has denied the allegations against him and filed a plea before Bombay High Court seeking quashing of FIR. PTI AVI BNM
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