Magistrate court : 3 days in police custody for threatening bank staffer who opposed a land deal

Judical magistrate (First Class) B B Pantawane on Friday remanded suspended Congress corporator Deepak Mankar in police custody for three days in a case of threatening an Urban Cooperative Bank employee who had opposed the bank’s move to sell one of its land holdings in Sadashiv Peth. The incident occurred on February 2, 2007, at Mankar’s office in Narayan Peth.

According to complainant Shekhar Wambure, Mankar had phoned him on February 2, 2007, and asked him to come to the former’s office. Mankar threatened to kill him if he opposed the decision of the board of directors to sell a 278-sq ft plot owned by the bank. While he was being threatened, bank managers Sambhaji Vitthal Jadhav, Shantaram Dattatray Vaidh and director Prakash Devkar were also present at the office. Wambure, a resident of Dhankwadi, filed a complaint against Mankar, Vaidh, Devkar and Jadhav with the Vishrambaug police on June 19.

Police arrested all the accused, except Mankar, on June 22 and they are in judicial custody now. Public prosecutor Vinayak Musale argued that Mankar’s police custody is necessary as the police are yet to seize the revolver used by Mankar for threatening Wambure. It is also necessary to find out who supplied him the weapon, he said.

Advocates Sudheer Shah and Harshad Nimbalkar, Mankar’s counsel, argued that Mankar has a valid firearm licence and hence the question of finding the supplier does not arise. “Also, if his firearm is to be seized, the police may issue him a notice. The police did not book Mankar under section 3 (25) of the Arms Act while they filed the case on June 19; they added the section on June 30. This was done with the sole intention of seeking his custody, as all other sections in the case are bailable.”

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