The state government on Wednesday submitted a confidential departmental enquiry report that was initiated against senior inspector Pradeep Suryavanshi for allegedly threatening a metropolitan magistrate.
The court felt that if the police’s further course of action was based on the report, Suryavanshi — who has been arrested for his involvement in the alleged fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya in 2006 — is also entitled to receive a copy of it.
Additional public prosecutor Sangeeta Shinde told the court that the police would issue a show-cause notice to Suryavanshi before they take any action. Reading out parts of the report in Marathi, the court said that the charge of a telephone call to the magistrate conducting an inquiry in the alleged fake encounter has not been proved.
Suryavanshi’s lawyer DU Mirajkar told the court that the alleged threat was a result of a misconception on behalf of the magistrate.
Justice DB Bhosale and justice AR Joshi were hearing a contempt petition filed by advocate Ramprasad Gupta, brother of Lakhan Bhaiya.
RA Shaikh, the metropolitan magistrate at Andheri, had complained to the high court that she had been threatened by Suryavanshi. A probe conducted showed that Suryavanshi had indeed threatened the magistrate. The crime branch then sent a report back to the police commissioner recommending that an FIR be lodged against Suryavanshi.
The court will hear the case on April 1.
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