Son of Telgi implicated MLA alleges court is prejudiced

MUMBAI: Tejas, son of former MLA Anil Gote who is implicated in the Abdul Karim Telgi-masterminded multicrore fake stamp paper case, has claimed that he had purchased for Rs 1,000 a copy of the draft charges even before the charges were framed by the special court in Pune that is hearing the case.

Tejas, while lodging a complaint with the Bar Council of Maharashtra in this regard, has claimed that he had purchased a copy of the draft charges from Adv Deepak Borkar who is a junior lawyer to Adv Vidyadhar Koshe.

The draft charges were listed in 72 paragraphs and addressed by Additional District Judge and Special Judge under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, Pune, B M Sardeshpande, Tejas has told the Bar Council of Maharashtra.

He alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation had framed ready-made charges against the accused in gross violation of the law.   

This is a mockery of the judicial proceedings and has created an apprehension in the minds of the accused persons that even without hearing them, the court has prejudged the issue, Tejas Gote has alleged.

He said that when the other accused persons -- Pradeep Sawant and R S Sharma -- had requested for a copy of the draft charges, they were told by the court that the document, if any, was not part of record and therefore the demand was premature.