In a relief to Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, the Bombay High Court has disposed of a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) challenging deletion of his name as an accused in an old case involving a company dealing in automobiles.

The PILs had sought quashing of a magistrate’s order which had deleted Patel’s name as an accused in a complaint filed by Unit Trust of India (UTI) against the company Auto Riders, alleging misuse of funds disbursed to finance auto loans.

Patel was a former non-executive director in Auto Riders and had laid down office in 1999. The High Court also did not accept the prayer made in PILs that the case be transferred to CBI, a plea opposed by the state government counsel. A bench of Chief Justice Swantanter Kumar and Justice S C Dharmadhikari, however, directed CID to complete the pending investigations in the alleged irregularities within six months.