Singapore consular officer told to respond by March 2

The Bombay High Court on Monday gave a consular officer of Singapore time till March 2 to respond to the court’s letter of request asking him to produce documents pertaining to property allegedly held by Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule.

Earlier,annoyed at the lack of response to its letter of request,the court said the consular officer,Mahendran Muthusamy,may have to be present in court if he fails to produce the documents sought by it. The court also indicated that it would not hesitate to take coercive action,permissible under the law and international protocol,if necessary.

On Monday,the court warned that its power should not be tested in the case,and the officer should not think that the court’s request can be ignored.

Partly allowing an application filed by Mrinalini Kakde,who had challenged the Lok Sabha election of Sule alleging that the latter had attained citizenship of Singapore,Justice J H Bhatia had issued the letter of request to Muthusamy to produce five documents that Kakde had earlier sought.