The Bombay high court on Monday gave the state government time till October 8 to explain the seven-year delay in filing a charge sheet in a corruption case.
The Bombay high court on Monday gave the state government time till October 8 to explain the seven-year delay in filing a charge sheet in a corruption case.
Reshma Singh, an accused along with a former inspector of the flying squad of the excise department, Manjitsingh Khera, had moved the court seeking the quashing of the complaint and the charge sheet on the grounds of delay.
The financial activities of Khera, who allegedly amassed assets worth Rs43 lakh between 1980 and 1990, came under the scanner in 1982, but FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act was filed in 1992, after a raid was conducted on his houses in Mumbai, Nagpur and Aurangabad.
The charge sheet in the case, however, was filed in 1999, and the recording of evidence began only last year, Singh’s lawyer told the court.
He argued that subjecting a person to such delayed proceedings violates his or her right to life (article 21 of the Constitution of India).
“Why you [police] took seven years to file the charge sheet? You will have to offer an explanation,” justice Khanwilkar said.
ACB had made Singh a co-accused, saying that she was Khera’s daughter, and he had purchased some of the properties in her name. But Singh’s case is she was not his daughter, and he was merely a “family friend” of her parents, major AB Singh and Mini Kaur.
Division bench of justices AM Khanwilkar and Pramod Kode said it would not go into these facts of the case, but asked the prosecution to explain the delay. Additional public prosecutor AS Gadkari said that defendants frequently sought adjournments, led to a delay in the trial.
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