Lower court's order on contempt by police stayed

Lower court's order on contempt by police stayed
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, FEB 22: Acting on the State Government's plea, the Bombay High Court has stayed the Satara Sessions Court's order issuing a contempt notice to the police for not following its directions on investigations in the murder of NCP activist Sharad Levhe.

Former State Minister Udayanraje Bhosale has been arrested in the case.

Justice P S Patankar and Justice P D Upasani on Monday granted an interim stay on the order of Satara sessions judge. The bench ordered that notices be issued to the respondents so that they are heard before the final verdict is delivered.

Udayanraje Bhosale, the 13th descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the last Assembly elections, was arrested on September 11 along with 14 others on the charge of killing Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) activist Sharad Lehve on election eve. Since then he has been lodged in jail and his bail plea was also rejected by the Satara court on January 27 last.

Meanwhile, Udayanraje moved an application before the sessions judge pleading that he was in a hotel at the time of the NCP activist's murder and claimed that he was closeted in a room along with his party colleagues to plan the strategy for elections, to be held the next day.

Udayanraje alleged the police had not examined this `vital' aspect of the case and pleaded for a direction to the investigating agency for interrogating party workers and the hotel staff to ascertain the truth. Accordingly, the judge ordered the police to investigate on these lines.

The police did make inquiries but allegedly failed to follow the court's order in toto, inviting contempt. Thereafter, Udayanraje moved an application urging the judge to take action against the police for contempt.

Judge A D Bhosale issued a notice on February 1 asking the police to show why they had not followed his directives as regards interrogating the hotel staff and also the accused's political colleagues.

The State filed a petition in the High Court, pleading that an accused had no right to ask the police for interrogating the persons whom he chose. There was no provision under the Criminal Procedure Code or any other law wherein such a grievance could be pleaded for.

The prosecution argued that the judge had erred by issuing contempt notice against the police because the investigations were inconclusive. Hence, the order of February 1 was ``illegal and deserved to be quashed''.

Bhosale, who unsuccessfully contested as a BJP candidate from Satara, pleaded that he had been `falsely' implicated in the crime due to political rivalry. At the time of the alleged murder, he was in Hotel Rajtara and had not ventured out for a long time, he claimed.

The prosecution, however, contended that Lehve was a supporter of Abhaysingh Bhosale, Udayanraje's uncle who had contested as an NCP candidate.

The prosecution's case is that on the eve of election, Lehve was seen moving around in a gypsy van. He was spotted by the accused and his supporters, who allegedly assaulted Lehve with an iron rod. Lehve was taken to hospital where he was declared dead.