Afghan church case: Trustee runs away from police station

Shrikant Salvi, a trustee of the Bombay Diocesan Trust Assciation Pvt. Ltd, ran away from the Cuffe Parade police station on Monday night. When the police reached his Colaba residence, they found it locked.

Salvi was taken to the Cuffe Parade police station after the Bombay high court refused to quash his plea seeking relief on a criminal matter against him. In 2008, community member and activist Cyril Dara had filed an FIR against Salvi and nine others.

These include several Bishops from the community. In the FIR he accused them of entering into a deal with a construction company on plots where Afghan Church and Bishop House are located. In his complaint, he had accused them of entering into a deal showing them to be owners of the land. To quash the investigation proceedings, trustees had moved court.

However, on Monday the court refused any relief. Instead it even pulled up the police. The court asked the progress on the case and what investigations were carried on till then. Since no other trustee was present, Cuffe Parade police station took Shrikant Salvi with them.

“He was taken to the police station for further legal action but was not arrested. It is true that he was brought and he then ran away. Recordings in station diary have been made on the issue and I will look into the matter,” said Ravindra Shisve, deputy commissioner of police.

SB Jagdale, the investigation officer, said, “We went to houses of four trustees, including Shirkant Salvi, but none were there. All the houses were locked. We will continue with our search.”

“Police took him into custody after the matter was dismissed in the high court. While taking the permission and completing other formalities of preparing the panchnama, he ran way,” said advocate Uday Desai, lawyer who fought the case.