10 months on, Navi Mumbai babus will be back in jail

Five senior officials of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), who escaped police custody by taking refuge in a hospital, will be back in custody 10 months after their arrest.

The Bombay high court on Thursday refused to quash a sessions court order, directing them to surrender to the police.

In September last year, the five—deputy commissioner NN Alhat, ex-deputy commissioner Amrish Patnigere, assistant commissioner Divakar Samel, chief accounts and finance official Jaywant Dalvi, and Prakash Kamble, an official in the accounts department—were arrested by the CBD Belapur police station for their alleged involvement in a scam by HB Bhise & Company which was given the contract for the removal of illegal structures.

However, in their petition in the high court, the officials stated, “Considering their middle age group in which the petitioners fall, and further considering the various ailments being suffered by the petitioners, the doctor advised the police to admit them to the ICU.”
They were in magisterial custody till September 11 and then released on bail by a magistrate.

A sessions court had reversed the order of the magistrate and asked the officers to surrender. In the high court, the prosecution opposed their plea, saying the police had not been able to interrogate the officials as they had escaped to the hospital and then got bail.

The high court has ordered the accused to surrender by August 2.